New York Radical
by Prince Of New York
Summary: As life goes on in the sweatshops and the child labor continues in New York City, many people start to forget about friends, love, and family. However, as friends become family, love blossoms, and family becomes uncertain, remembering becomes difficult.
1. 01 Runt of a Leader

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 1: Runt of a Leader

Summary: As life goes on in the sweatshops and the child labor continues in New York City, many people start to forget about friends, love, and family. However, as friends become family, love blossoms, and family becomes uncertain, remembering becomes difficult.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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_"And please bless the newsies. Amen."_

_Her mother opened her eyes and sighed looking at her daughter with a look of dismay. "You know we don't talk about those children at home, it upsets your father."_

_"It only upsets him because he doesn't like them… why doesn't papa like the news boys?"_

_"Well… because their young versions of thieves. Crooks, and criminals even murderers are the careers those boys are destined for. This is why your father puts them in the refuge, in the hope that they may yet guide them to a useful and productive life._

_To the young Princess, whenever her mother described the refuge to her, it seemed like a prison. She never did fancy the idea of sending those boys to prison. They were children, like her, just with less money, weren't they?_

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_"Papa! Stop it!"_

_"Be quiet!" Mr. Snyder shouted at his daughter. Suddenly the side of the Princess' face was met with a forceful blow as she flew to one side, and she was knocked off balance. She gazed at her father in disbelief, and Amanda did the same. Mr. Snyder's face was unreadable. He was almost shocked himself, but the oddity was, there was no regret in his eyes._

_"How dare you strike her?" Mrs. Snyder got down onto her knees beside her daughter. "Princess, you go up into your room." The Princess didn't look at her mother. "Did you hear me?" The Princess nodded tears pushing hard at her eyes. "Look at me," Amanda said taking her daughter's face in her hands._

_"No!" the Princess screamed, and broke free from her mother's grasp. She ran at the stairs away from the yelling and fighting parents._

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_There sat a hand written letter on the table. She picked up and read it._

_Nigel,_

_I feel as though you are leaving me, and I will not allow that to happen. I apologize, but I can not live with you lying to me. I'm leaving for good, and I'm sorry that I didn't take the time to come and say good bye to you. I wish you the best in all you do. Good bye._

_Amanda._

_She read the letter over and over. Her mother was gone? It couldn't be. She looked all over the front, and all over the back, but there was no more explanation. "Mama!" she called as she ran towards her mother and father's room. She threw open the drawers, only to find most of her mother's clothes were gone. She ran then to the front closet, and threw it open as well. Her coat was gone too, as was her hand bag. She ran up stairs and looked in the library; some of her mother's books were gone as was most of her piano music._

_Her mother was gone._

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_The door opened slowly, and a girl only two years older than Miss Snyder herself stood in the door. "Princess, this is Millie O'Connor. She's fourteen years old, and she has come to spend time with you."_

_Miss Snyder set her book down and examined the girl wary of making new connections, but the girl only smiled. She had red curls that fell down her back, most defiantly Irish. She seemed nice enough, so Miss Snyder stood up. "My name is Mary Ann," she said without smiling._

_"But you'll call her Miss Snyder," Nigel said, and Millie nodded. Miss Snyder glared at her father with hatred still. It was not his decision what she wanted to be called._

_"I'll leave you two be for now," he said bowing out gracefully, and closing the door behind him._

_The two girls became fast friends after that. Millie taught Miss Snyder everything. She taught her to sew, to play some songs on the piano. She taught her a lot about Ireland. She shared some of some stories from where she came from, which got Miss Snyder interested in writing stories of her own. She even taught her a few phrases in Gaelic. In return Miss Snyder would teach her English, and play her songs her songs that she remembered her mother playing._

_It was a week into the New Year when Millie found Miss Snyder with a small bag, packing things in her room. "Miss Snyder? What 're ye doin'?"_

_"I'm… leaving," she said._

_"Leavin'? But why?"_

_"Because I can't stand it anymore Millie. My father not being home, my mother hasn't come home, and I don't think she ever will. I cannot stand living here anymore."_

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_"I'm Mary… Mary Ann."_

_"And might I ask what a Mary Ann is doin' out in dis neighborhood in da middle of da snowfall, at dis time of night?"_

_"She's freezing, half starved, and looking for someone," she answered curtly._

_"And who's she lookin' for?"_

_"Avalanche."_

_"Oh? I know a guy named Avalanche."_

_Mary looked at him then. "You do?" she asked._

_He nodded. "Yeah, he's a real good friend of mine. But if ya wanna meet him youse gotta agree ta two things." She was a bit wary of what he was going to suggest. "One, ya come with me so youse can warm up. And two, ya gotta eat somethin' when we get there."_

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_"Mark Andrew Sanders," Dash said trying it out. "Sounds good to me," and the rest of the boys nodded in agreement._

_"Alright, Mark, now we need a real name for you."_

_"But, I already have a real name," Mary Ann or Mark said._

_"No… a different kind of real name." She looked at him rather confused. The room went silent, and no one said anything for a long time._

_That was until Two-step laughed. "What do you suggest then?" Avalanche said. _

_"Call her King!"_

_He shook his head, and Mark did too, she didn't like the sound of that. "No… a bit too royal… and it sounds like she's tryin' ta take over… how's about Prince?"_

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"Prince… Priiiinnnnnnce? Prince! Hey Prince!"

Prince moaned as she rolled over in her bed, waking up from a rather annoying yet reoccurring dream. "Go away Keys…" she said shoving his face which caused him to stand up straight from leaning over Prince's bed. Keys was actually about 3 months older than Prince, but you wouldn't know it by his height and the way he acted.

"But you're late! You're usually the one wakin' us up!"

"Keys, the strike just got over… and I didn't go sellin' yesterday… ya think I'm on the right sleep schedule for this?"

Keys contemplated this for a moment and then, without a second thought, said, "Yes!"

Prince groaned and sat up on her bed with a sigh as she stretched her arms up towards the low ceiling. She rubbed her eyes and looked around at everyone still asleep. Keys was the only one awake and dressed.

Prince sighed. Time to be leader. She took a deep breath, and then louder than any alarm clock, "ALRIGHT YOU LAZY BUMS UP AND AT 'EM! AT THIS RATE WE'LL ALL BE LATE TO DISTRUBITION! ALRIGHT C'MON EVERYONE UP, UP, UP!"

The boys jumped in their beds some hitting their heads on the headboards, some moaning at the sudden loud noises, others covering their ears first thing. Prince smiled a little as she stepped out of her bed. She looked at Keys. "Almost as loud as Avalanche, don't cha think?"

Keys looked at her skeptically and shortly answered, "No…" and then walked away towards the stairs.

Prince rolled her eyes and dejectedly looked around. "C'mon youse! Wit, let's go," she said shoving the boy in the bed beside hers.

"Morning already?" he said groaning.

She laughed. "First thing you do… ask a question," she left him and ran over to the new boy and nudged him. "Hey… Ry guy? You awake yet?

Rylet sighed and rolled over. He opened his clear blue eyes and looked up at Prince. "Morning leader," he said properly. "Beautiful day isn't it?"

She chuckled. "Couldn't tell ya… just got up m'self. C'mon! Ya gonna be late!" she left him and dashed back towards her trunk, threw some clothes on, and tucked her hair up in her hat. Prince's hair was easily 2 feet long, and had been for some time. She had never cut it, however, she often played the part of a boy while walking around New York. She claimed she got more respect, and she'd be right. She had mastered the art of masculinity long ago, thanks to her former leader, Avalanche.

Avalanche, or Alex, had just left yesterday morning for the southern states. He was getting stir crazy in New York. Besides, he had long since been the oldest leader, and it was high time that he move on in with life. He wasn't selling very well anymore. Avalanche had been named for his loud voice that no one in New York had ever been able to beat, Prince included, despite her efforts.

Prince cleared her throat, tied her shoes and headed for the stairs. She galloped down them towards the kitchen, where the owner of the Queens lodging house, Will, had a simple breakfast waiting for them. He did every day. Shark and Dice were fighting over a biscuit that they both claimed they touched first, even though there were plenty more. Prince intervened quickly by walking over and plucking it from the elder's hand. "Thanks Shark!" she said as she dashed towards the door.

The big buff blonde glared at Prince as she ran away. "You sure are lucky you're so fast you runt of a leader!" he called after her. She laughed, and waved a hand as she ran out into the New York street.

What a wonder to be a Queens Newsie in 1889…

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A/N: Welcome to the third and final installment of the NYR trilogy! Yes, I realize that this story took me ages to finish, but for those who you who are/were patient, I do hope that your patience has and will pay off. Also, yes, I realize that the title has changed, but trust me, this one fits better. I would personally like to thank a few motivators of mine. So special thanks to my friends, specifically Drifter, Sarah, and Dani. This story wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. Thank you all again, please drop me a review to let me know you're reading! This story will be updated every Monday and Thursday until it's over, though I can't promise a consistent time. So stay tuned, and I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Enjoy the ride, and we'll see you Thursday for chapter two!


	2. 02 His Own Mother

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 2: His Own Mother

Summary: After the turn of the century, as technology is beginning to become prominent in American society, the children of New York are still out working in sweat shops, running machinery, and selling news papers. However, growing up in New York can be dangerous, in many different ways.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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As Prince walked down the street towards the Queens Distribution center, her second in command caught up with her once more. "How ya doin' Prince?" Wit commented as he came up.

She chuckled. "Not too bad, Wit, thanks." Wit got his name from always needing to have his wits about him. He asked more questions than a kid continuously asking 'why?' and he really wanted answers to all of them.

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_"Oh no!" her hair fell, but not down, it went backwards in the wind. That was, until she turned around to chase after her hat. Then the hair got into her face, and she was barely able to see. She ran down the street anyway after her hat._

_Well, she was running, until she ran into something… or someone and the both of them fell right to the ground. "I'm sorry!" a boy's voice said._

_Prince was frustrated. "My hat! Where'd it go?"_

_"I got it," the voice said again. "Come 'ere!" he helped her to her feet and pulled her into another alley and out of the wind._

_Prince pulled her hair out of her face and back behind her shoulders. This was the first time she got a look at the boy. His hair was short and his eyes were brown. He had very fair skin, no freckles, no flaws, and he was smiling at her. He had a certain boyish charm and was fairly handsome for a boy his age. He was just as tall as her and appeared nice._

_"This is yours?" he said handing the hat to Prince._

_"Uhhh… thanks," she said taking the hat from him and placing the bill in her mouth, twisting her hair upwards and placing the hat on her head, a routine she does very simply._

"_Who're ya friends?"_

_"The boys I woik with."_

_"Where ya woik?"_

_"Factory."_

_"Where ya live?"_

_"Wherevah."_

_"Come on, I'll take ya ta meet my friends."_

_"Why do you hide your hair, when it's so pretty? And why do people call you Mark when you're a girl?"_

_"Because… I ran away."_

_"Ran away from where?"_

_Prince got quiet, but Wit's gaze didn't leave her face, it was as though he would die if he didn't know._

_Avalanche came up behind Wit. "There are some questions… dat shouldn't be answered, b'cause dey nevah shoulda been asked in da foist place."_

_Wit got the hint and nodded. He turned back to Prince. "Well, what I really meant was… Ran away? I bet where ever you're from they miss you."_

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"Feels kinda weird dun it?" Wit said as he shined an apple on his sleeve. "Sellin' again after all those days and days and days of living in Manhattan and protesting?"

Prince looked off in thought and nodded a little. "Yeah I guess…"

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_Avalanche closed the door behind her before he said, "Whatcha think of spendin' a few days in Manhattan wit dose boys?"_

_Prince was in a bit of shock. She had expected him to ask people, but not her! She was from Manhattan! Her father was there, she was in danger there! She couldn't stay there for a few days; she was amazed she was able to get away with a few hours on poker night._

_Ya won' be alone Prince. You'll have Wit, Keys, Shark, and Dice dere wit' ya. Dey'll protect ya, you'll be jus' fine, dey won't let nothin' happen to ya."_

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_"Remember, da more we destroy da less they can sell. Ready?"_

_"Yeah!" the entire group chorused back to the Manhattan leader standing on the statue._

_"Then let's go!" Jack jumped down off the statue. Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn newsies began to advance towards the closed gates of the New York World distribution apparatus._

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_"Tell me I'm just seein' things. Jus', jus' tell me I'm seein' things," was all he asked as he looked towards the gates, at what Prince, and a few others around them had already discovered._

_Race said what all of them were afraid they saw. They hoped, like Spot had thought, that it was an illusion. They hoped it was just a look alike. But no. "No, you ain't seein' things that's Jack. What's he doin'?"_

_"He's dressed like a scabbah!" Spot said angrily._

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_The next thing they knew Jack had pulled Les to him and was starting to put the boy on his shoulders. But everyone was still clueless as to what had happened. As Les' head rose over the crowed of sweat shop kids they quieted instantly to hear what had happened._

_"WE BEAT 'EM!"_

_Crutchy, the Manhattan boy who had a bad leg, and had to use a crutch to walk, was the last to climb down out of the wagon, much to the delight of the Manhattan boys. "Uh, remember what I told ya mistah Snyder, the foist thing ya do in jail… make friends wit' da rats. Share what cha got in common!" Everyone's eyes went wide, worried that Snyder would do something, but he didn't. He simply turned around and continued making his way into the carriage._

_Prince's expression went from shocked to overjoyed in half a second as she looked to Avalanche. She was free! She couldn't believe it, she was finally free! No more hiding, no more pretending, with her father in jail, she could finally live her life!_

_"Uh, officer, may I please?" Crutchy asked the police man who was closing the door._

_"Sure kid," he said finding it a little funny, but he let Crutchy slam and lock the door, which allowed everyone in the area to cheer once more. Avalanche seized Prince by the stomach and lifted her off her feet and spun her around, and she held onto him tightly. Both of them where cheering as well, but no one was as happy as them to see Snyder put away._

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"Woah! Sorry Prince!" Prince was snapped out of her day dream of the last few weeks by a small boy running by named Two-Step.

She laughed a little. "Sa'right kid," she called back to him.

"Hey," he stopped and turned back and ran at her. He threw his arms around her waist and hugged her. "It's good to have you back. We missed you while you were in Manhattan." He gave her a smile and dashed off again.

Prince was dumbfounded. Wit laughed. "That kid likes you, don't cha think?"

She chuckled. "No more than his own mother. He just likes that he got to help pick out my name," she said shaking her head a little.

The two of them walked up the ramp to distribution. Prince got the usual 100, and Wit grabbed a cool 70 even.

"So, what have we heah?" she said as she sat down and opened the paper to page two to only find herself horrified. "Oh no…"

"What? Whassamattah?"

Prince froze staring at the paper and moved it just enough so Wit could read the headline. "Warden found not guilty in trial against state."

"No," Wit said as he was in shock now too. "How? There's so much evidence against him! He shoulda been put away for years…"

Prince was still frozen, ice in her veins. She was so close. She was sure that she was free and would be able to run around New York without a care, just like the other kids. She couldn't have been more wrong. "…I dunno Wit," she said as she dropped her arms.

A few of the other boys were already talking about it around the Distribution Center.

Prince was officially devastated, for although this was bad news for most of the newsies, it was especially bad news for her. Warden Nigel Snyder was her father, and when she was very young, barely a teenager, she had run away from home. He'd been looking for her ever since. And now that she was nearly sixteen, he still hadn't given up. At least, not that she knew of. No one knew this except for Avalanche… and well…

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_She couldn't help it, she had to hug him again. But both had the idea at the same time which made them laugh a little._

_The train whistle sounded once more and they reluctantly let go._

_"Take care… Mary Ann," he said quietly. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. "G'bye goily," he added with his ever optimistic smile._

_The train whistle blew a third time, as a train conductor shouted, "All aboard!"_

_Avalanche turned and got onto the train. Prince walked along side it as it started moving, and then she saw Avalanche put his head out a window. He smiled and waved to her._

_"ALEX! Maireann croí éadrom i bhfad!"_

_"…What's that mean?"_

_Mary only smiled as she waved to him. He laughed and waved back. He understood that if he wanted to find out, he would have to come back._

_Prince watched and stayed until the train was out of sight. She then turned around and started back to her home, her boys, her life in Queens._

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"Well if that just don't beat all…" he said shaking his head. "Cryin' shame." Wit stood up. "Wull, all the same, these papes ain't gonna sell themselves," he said with a small sigh. "You comin' or what?"

"Oh, uh, yeah," she said as she stood up off the ramp. "Sorry got a little distracted I guess," she said shaking her head. "Yeah let's go."

Thank goodness she'd been hiding in Queens, or he might have gotten wise to her hiding place. Manhattan wasn't a safe place for her, and it would appear that it would remain as such for quite some time, unfortunately.

What Prince had learned at one point was Snyder's reasons for catching Jack Kelly or Francis Sullivan and putting him away. Snyder and Sullivan were in battle for quite some time when Jack and Prince were both just children. However, when Prince ran away from home Snyder believed that Jack had kidnapped her, to get revenge for all the grief Snyder had caused him over the years. When Snyder caught him, and discovered that Jack hadn't taken his daughter, he realized that he would need to redouble his efforts to find her. She could be anywhere in the city, and he was twice as determined to find her, since she was almost sixteen, and if she made it to eighteen before he found her, she'd be of no use to him anymore.

"Might as well get goin' huh? Yeesh… feels like summer should be over, but the heat just won't quit!" Prince said wiping her brow with her sleeve.

"Race ya to the corner?" Wit inquired. Prince smiled and the two of them took off.

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A/N: I know, I know. Trust me, the action will be pickin' up here real quick. In the mean time, thank you for reading, and if you're following along with this story, drop me a review and let me know. I am not afraid to take criticism, or compliments for that matter. Thanks for reading. Next update will be on Monday. Have a great weekend!


	3. 03 Time Just Sorta Flew By

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 3: Time Just Sorta Flew By

Summary: After the turn of the century, as technology is beginning to become prominent in American society, the children of New York are still out working in sweat shops, running machinery, and selling news papers. However, growing up in New York can be dangerous, in many different ways.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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Prince was tired, and for good reason, as summer faded into fall and the night began to creep into the daylight more and more the days got shorter and Prince seemed to get more and more tired. Only being 15 and a leader of Queens seemed to take a toll on the young girl. The good news is, Avalanche, Prince's former leader knew what he was doing. She was nearly sixteen at this point, and then be more of a proper age to lead. She was simply mature for her age, or at least she hoped she was, the last thing these kids needed… was a childish leader in her opinion. Though many Queens kids were about her age, give or take year or two.

Prince took one step at a time, which was rare for her, as she made her way up to the bunk room. She wasn't going to bed just yet, but she just wanted a moment without anyone around her talking to her nonstop, or asking her what she was going to do tomorrow, she just wanted to read her journal

On her 13th birthday, nearly 3 years ago now, she had received a gift, from some old friends. It was a leather bound journal, and inside, though it was faded she could still read the message on the first page.

_Is minic a rinne bromach gioblach capall cumasach. _(An awkward colt often becomes a beautiful horse.) _I'm sure this is especially true in your case. – Millie_

Prince smiled at the message. Millie had been the closest thing to a _deirfiúir _(sister) that Prince had ever had. She had always wanted a sister, but had grown up an only child. Millie had been a great person, 2 years older than Prince herself, and, when Prince had lived at home her father had hired her to take care of the young Prince while he was away working on a practically constant basis. Millie was an Irish immigrant, with bright curly red hair and a thick Irish accent. She was the one who taught Prince to speak Gaelic, which she still used quite often. It was very useful for people who had just moved to New York in communicating with them.

Others she had left behind were Julia and Adam. Julia had been the cook at her household, and Adam had been the carriage driver and horse manager. The three of them completed Prince's broken little family, due to the ruins that her real parents left her in.

Prince sighed and turned to the back page of her journal where she kept the last message anyone had ever received from her mother, Amanda. When her father had thrown it away she had dug it out of the trash and saved it. It wasn't addressed to her, in fact, she wasn't even mentioned in it, but it was still as important to her as the thin tarnished gold bracelet on her wrist, which she had now fully grown into. As for her father, she didn't care for the man. He had always chased after the people who were now her greatest friends, and he'd been hunting her for years, almost four years now as a matter of fact. Her father was known as Warden Snyder and was known as one of the meanest people a newsie could ever have the misfortune of meeting. She absolutely detested him and thought of him as little as possible. She left her past back in Manhattan with him, and her dear friends. However, she still had a means of communicating with them, via messenger boy named Thomas Johnson. They occasionally wrote letters back and forth, but never to her father, just to the people who worked for him.

Amanda Snyder left when Prince wasn't even a teenager yet, and was still considered a young Princess. Mr. Snyder had become violent with her, yelling and hitting her after he'd come home from work after a week of not showing his face. Amanda was too strong a woman to stay there, but not strong enough to take her daughter with her, so Prince had made her own way, and was quite content with that.

Collin Russiani. She spotted the name as she turned a few pages into the journal. She chuckled. The poor man who had the misfortune of finding her half frozen in a street in Brooklyn. She had freshly run away, was still in a skirt and blouse, and covered in snow at the time. Red and Spot had pointed her in the direction of Queens, and gave her directions and saved her life. Prince had seen Red on occasion since then, but he had a kind of face and brilliant green eyes that people just don't forget quickly. Prince didn't know it, but he had gotten sick, and left town not long after Spot had been made leader of Brooklyn's newsies. She hadn't heard much about him in a while, she hadn't even thought of him in a very long time.

But thank goodness for Brooklyn and thank goodness for Red and Spot. If it hadn't been for them she never would have found the person who saved her. Alex "Avalanche" Johnson, no relation to previously mentioned Thomas Johnson. Prince walked all the way to Queens to nearly starve and be discovered in an ice storm by a boy who promised to take care of her. And he did. Prince turned a few more pages in the journal where she found an entry on where Avalanche had taught her selling techniques and she had taken notes on them so she wouldn't forget. It wasn't that long ago… but if anyone would ask her she'd swear it was eons. At the top of the page was written "Avalanche's Quality and Quantity… how to sell fictional items to a large amount of people." She laughed out loud to herself as she remembered selling automobiles and radios.

Her smile faded as she remembered the radios, for Avalanche had had a younger brother, Maximilian Johnson. Max had been about Prince's age, and they had never gotten along. They were very different people with very different temperaments, and she could never really believe that Avalanche was even related to a person like Million. All the same, one day after losing a bet on selling papers Million disappeared and Prince hadn't seen him since, which at the time was fine with her, but since then, it made her wonder what had happened to the kid.

Avalanche had spoken of the day when he was a child and his house was burnt to the ground, and his father was killed. His mother grew ill with depression and he and his younger sister got jobs to try and support the family. The two boys however ran away figuring it would be easier for Belinda to tend to her mother without them.

Prince turned another page looking for another happier memory and her book lead her to the other New York leaders. Jack "Cowboy" Kelly, the man who had taught Prince how to use her poker face, and all the other Manhattan boys who taught her how to play poker like the best of them. And David of course, the man who had gotten the newsies through that strike they tackled and won just a few short days ago it was now, though it felt a life time. Ace was also mentioned on this page. He was the Bronx leader, which, in his family, was a title that one practically inherited. Though he was the youngest, she wondered who'd get it next. Maybe some kid from England or something. Who knew really? And of course Spot and Red once again. She chuckled. Her eyes scanned the page as she read the names "Rush and Cricket," she wasn't sure how cricket was doing as leader… but she knew he'd inherit Harlem here quite soon. Rush had been a good guy… Cricket had never shut up. She hoped he'd gotten his act together.

Suddenly Prince remembered something as she flipped a few pages ahead in her journal to the night before Avalanche left. He had been talking to a boy in the alley way. Prince didn't know who that was, or what he was talking about. He spoke of money, and how he owed people. Prince remembered it being… rather spooky so she tried to force it out of her mind which wasn't all that difficult as her boys started to come up the stairs. She didn't realize how long she'd been day dreaming.

Two-step was the first one up the stairs. "Heya Prince!" he said with a wave. Prince waved back to him. He'd always been a bit of a motor mouth, but he was one of the younger ones in the borough, probably around 12 now? Prince wasn't all that sure to be honest… she'd lost track of how old the kid was.

Just behind him was Keys. Keys had always had a lot of energy, so he and Two-Step made great friends, they were like siblings those two. Keys had grown up however, since their first meeting when Avalanche asked Keys to lend Prince some of his clothes. "How ya doin' round here Prince?" Keys asked as he paused by her bed for a moment and put a hand on the corner of her mattress, leaning forward.

She couldn't help but chuckle. "Real good Keys," she said nodding.

"Glad ta hear it," he said with a small nod and stood up straight again before he ran straight for two-step, picking up the younger as he went along and threw him into his bunk.

The next one up the stairs was Shark, named which for a good reason. Shark would be 17 now, and would probably be retiring soon from newsiehood. Besides, he'd make a great dock worker, and could probably make better money down there. He didn't say a word, but he did wave to his leader as he walked by. Even he had respect for her. They all did, didn't matter if she was younger or older than you, taller, or shorter. She was like a mother and a leader. If Avalanche trusted her, then no one questioned it.

Coming up right behind Shark was Dice as he was rolling 4 dice in his hands now and looking at the numbers when he would stop his hand to see what would come up, and how quickly he could add the numbers. Dice was pretty smart and pretty slick. He had only a year on Prince, but the boy practically needed two beds because of how tall he was. Prince didn't know how a boy could be so tall, and yet, still look so much like an orangutan.

Last, but by no means least Wit, Prince's second in command came up the stairs. "Turning in a bit early huh?" asked the boy who never could stop asking questions or cracking jokes. He had a sharp wit, but always had to have his wits about him.

"Didn't mean to," she said with a shrug, "time just sorta flew by once I got up here."

"Day dreaming and readin'," he said pointing to the journal, "will do that to ya." He gave her a quick nod. "Think you're gonna be able to get us up in time tomorrow?" he teased.

"Yeah yeah, hush," she said as she reached over and gave him a shove, which just made him laugh.

Prince removed the hat from her head, let her hair fall down around her shoulders, and picked up a hairbrush which she used to quickly run through her hair.

Wit yawned as he stretched out and took off his over shirt. "Hey Wit," Prince said, "you mind getting' the lamps?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'll get 'em."

"Thanks," she said. He started going around the room and turning off the lamps kids weren't using until he returned to the lamp that was between his and Prince's beds.

"Sleep well, leadah," he said as he lay down.

"_Oíche mhaith_," Prince said with a smirk.

"Huh?" Wit asked.

"Good night."

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A/N: Yeah, okay, my fault. I forgot to post chapter 3, but I didn't hear any complaints or reminders or anything... so I figure no one noticed. I definitely have the next post up on thursday (as promised as always) due to having plans for this (what will be a very) long weekend. So, if there's anyone out there reading this, just drop me a review and let me know. Either way, I'll see you on Thursday, like clockwork.


	4. 04 You Doin' Okay Leader?

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 4: You Doing Okay, Leader?

Summary: At the turn of the century, New York City is a busy town. Sometimes the important things get lost in the madness. As life goes on in the sweatshops and the child labor many people start to forget about friends, love, and family, but sometimes reminders are all too painful.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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Slowly fall overtook the city of New York and the wind picked up. But as the days were windy they blew the cold towards New York. All the same, Prince found herself spending more time day dreaming these days of her past and future rather than focusing on the present. It was rather unlike her, though Wit seemed to be the only one that noticed.

"You doin' okay, leadah?" he asked her one night as the two of them sat up on the roof top looking out over the city.

"Yeah," she said quietly.

"You sure?" he could tell she was lying.

"No," she said as she took a drag on her cigarette. "You ever think about what you'll do when you're done here?" she asked. "When you're done bein' a newsie, what's next for you Wit?"

He shrugged. "Probably go back to a factory life," he said honestly. Being a newsie was better money than kids could make in the factories, if you had the talent for it. But Wit had worked in a factory before Prince had found him one day in a wind storm.

"Yeah…" she said. "Don't ya ever think about a family? A life?" she asked.

"Not really," he said. "Why?"

"Just… been thinkin' a lot lately," she said as she put out her cigarette out on the ledge of the roof. Wit hadn't realized just how deeply his leader had been thinking lately. But what else was new? Prince had always been a fairly mental person. "That's all."

"Uh-huh. Whatever you say," he said with a shrug. He stood up as she did and he looked at her again. "You okay?" he asked her again.

She thought for a second as she picked up her hat and twisted her two feet of hair back up to hide it once more. "For all intents and purposes… yes, Wit. I'm great." She put on a smile and the two of them headed for the door of the lodging house.

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Only a few hours later Prince sat bolt upright in her bunk after hearing a very loud sound, a bell? An alarm. A fire engine. Why was it so loud? She ran over to the window of the bunk room and saw the smoke and fire coming from only a block away from a very tall apartment building. Of course, she had not been the only one woken up by the bell.

"Prince?" Keys called to her, "What's happenin' out there?"

"Fire," she said in a hushed voice. And that was all the entire bunk room needed to hear. All of them, every last one, started putting on pants and Prince put her hat on. They were all suitably dressed as they paraded out of the lodging house front door and hurried down the street, Prince in the lead.

As they got close a couple of fire men held them back. "No kids, we don't need anything," but just as the fire man said that he turned around and ran back to help. They were obviously shorthanded, which meant the newsies would be helping whether the adults liked it or not.

"Prince," Shark said as he approached her and looked at her seriously. "There's kids in there." Instantly Prince's eyes went back to the building. As she and some of the other boys gazed at it they could see people in different windows still screaming and calling for help. Her breath caught in her throat. "I'm gonna go help 'em," he said seriously.

"No Shark," she said shaking her head. "We can do anything else to help but you ain't goin' in."

"You ain't talkin' me out of this." The gruff man had a heart, and he really believed he could be of some use. "I'm quicker than any of these old guys," he said indicating to the firemen. "C'mon, lemme go in."

"Fine," she said. Shark ran towards the building followed closely by Dice and Keys. "Boys!" she called after them. But either they didn't hear her, or didn't care to, as they dived into the fray.

Prince cursed under her breath and told the boys no one else was going in there. As if there was anyone else around who would. She looked and noticed that for once she was the oldest one standing there. She glanced over her shoulder again and looked for images of the boys who were trying to help.

Shark emerged first coughing from the smoke. "This is the family on the first floor," he said to Prince. Prince and the other boys were helping families get together again, if they'd been separated. "The father is still inside," he said and without hesitation dove back in.

Next came out Keys and Dice at the same time. They had lead families down safe routes to the outside, and then headed back in for more.

Keys came out again a few seconds later carrying a small boy. "Watch him, he's got burned real bad," he said. He literally handed the young boy off to Prince. The newsies, mean while, where still helping families get together, helping them get water, and trying to console them the best they could.

Prince gazed back at the burning building to the boy in her arms. She could only think of Avalanche, and that was all the courage she needed.

"Two-step!" she called for the younger newsie. He was at her side instantly. "Watch him," she said as she sat him on the ground. "Do not, you hear me, do not go in this building, and do not let anyone else go in either." Two-step was too stunned to speak so he just nodded.

With a deep breath Prince turned towards the building and headed for the front door, fear not having a place anywhere in her at that moment. All she could think about was getting the father out that Shark had mentioned.

As she entered the building the sound of flames echoed in her ears. The roaring and crackling flames yelled at her in such a harsh tone and caused so much noise it made her want to cover her ears like she was a child. She remembered her parents fighting, causing lots of noise, and she felt young and helpless again. Perhaps this wasn't a good idea.

"Prince! Over here!" And she snapped back to reality as she saw Shark waving his arms. "Hurry!" The father of the family Shark had mentioned was trapped under a singed wooden beam. "I can't lift it and get him out," he said. "I'll lift the beam, you get him. His leg is broken." Prince understood her instructions and grabbed the man by the arms as she drug him out from under the fallen beam. By the time she looked up to see Shark, all she saw of him was his darting figure heading for the second floor. Prince looked down at the man.

She hoisted him up and he looked at her. "Thanks boy," he said smiling weakly.

She couldn't help but smile back. The two of them were able to move towards the door of the building. As they exited the family of the father cheered and cried and was overjoyed to see him. She was a little surprised at herself at this moment. She had such a dislike for her father that she wondered for a moment why she had saved one. She then remembered that just thinking of Avalanche encouraged the spark of courage inside her to go in and save this man. Of course, when Avalanche was but a boy his house, his life went up in flames, and his father with it. Prince would sooner die than have someone going through that pain if she could help it. She was so happy when the family was glad to see their father safe and sound, escaping with only a few burns and a broken leg. Prince reached them and let him down onto the ground. He was able to walk okay with one leg and Prince's support.

She then hurried back to Two-step, "How are we doing?"

"Well," was all he got out before a deafening CRACK went through the air. Everyone froze, the world went silent except for the sound of the building giving way and caving in on itself. No one moved, no one breathed.

"Dice… Shark… Keys," she glanced around and didn't see them. "Dice!" she screamed as she ran towards the building. "Shark! Keys!" A Fireman caught her arm and held her back. "No no! You don't understand," she practically screamed, "my friends are in there!"

"Calm down boy," the fireman said.

"No!" She shook him off and ran towards the flaming rubble. The fireman chased after her, not wanting the young newsie to get hurt. He tried to take her off of the fallen building but she refused as she was burning her hands trying to move pieces of wood and bricks. Two-step in the mean time was doing as he was told, and instructed no newsies to go near the building, no matter what.

Prince wasn't the only one searching for loved ones. There were children even besides her looking for parents, parents looking for children, all family looking for all family. But they all needed to admit something that none of them wanted to. They weren't going to see their friends or family again.

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It wasn't until nearly an hour later that the newsies left the scene of the fire. They had helped the families that could unite, they had done everything they could, passing out food and water, but all Prince could think was that they were now three strong arms short. Wit came up behind her.

"You doing okay, leader?" he asked her.

She looked forward. "We gotta sell in the morning, it's already late… get the kids home," she said as she stepped aside and let Wit lead.

"Sure," he said as he swallowed the lump in his throat and instructed the kids to follow him.

As the children all walked by Prince looked and counted. Everyone else was accounted for, but she had counted one extra head. At the end of the line was a small blonde boy. She walked up to him. "Kiddo," she said tapping him on the shoulder. He was so small, and so covered in soot. She recognized him as the boy who had been badly burned, and could still see the markings all over him, from where he'd been hurt. "Who're you?"

He said something quietly that Prince couldn't quite hear. "What?"

"Jim…" he said again, still so quiet that Prince couldn't hear what he said correctly.

"Jem?" she asked. "Jem, where's your family?"

He looked over his shoulder at the rubble of the building that the firemen were attempting to clean up and then threw his arms around Prince and cried hard. An orphan now.

Prince blinked a few times at the shock of suddenly being hugged by the small boy. "It's okay, you can come home with me," she lifted the boy off the ground and he instantly put his feet around her waist. He couldn't have been more than 6 years old. He clung to her tightly and cried more tears than the Hudson River.

As Prince reached the lodging house Rylet met her at the door. "Prince," he said as he ran to her.

"I'm fine… take him, put him to bed," she instructed Rylet. As she passed the young boy off to her good friend, he simply nodded and took the boy inside, Prince following close behind.

As she came inside she closed the door and watched Rylet take Jem upstairs. She sat down in her chair for a moment and looked down at the ground. Her shoulders began to shake, as her hat fell from the top of her head. Her hair cascaded down in front of her face, landing on her shoulders and giving her a place to hide. She couldn't fight back and be strong anymore. Three of her best friends disappeared before her eyes, and were never coming back. She couldn't hold back the tears any longer.

Her mind raced as she thought of everything else that could have happened that night. Why not her? Why hadn't she been taken instead? Why had they run in? Why had she let them? The longer she thought about what was happening, and what had happened the more it started sink in, she was now the oldest Queens newsie. Queens had always been a young borough to begin with. The three boys had been her only remaining elders, any others that there had been, went away around when Avalanche did. Not only was she in charge, but no one older than her to ask questions to. For the first time in a long time she felt truly on her own.

Prince didn't sleep at all that night. The next morning she washed her face, and though her eyes were red, blood shot, and painful, she pushed through. She woke up all the children, except for Jem. She had Will, the owner of the lodging house keep an eye on him, and told them they needed to go sell. It was going to be a rough morning edition. The fire was no doubt going to be mentioned in the paper somewhere. But her newsies wouldn't, because they were orphans with no home, no family, and no one who cared except their fellow newsies. Shark, Dice, and Keys would be unsung heroes as the newsies sold the morning paper.

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A/N: On that note, that will conclude the updates for the week. I'll be back again on Monday with the continuation. From here the plot truly gets going and takes off, trust me. So, I hope you enjoy. Drop me a review if you have a moment, I love hearing from people who are following along. Enjoy your weekend, and we'll see you on Monday.


	5. 05 I'm on Your Side

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 5: I'm on Your Side

Summary: At the turn of the century, New York City is a busy town. Sometimes the important things get lost in the madness. As life goes on in the sweatshops and the child labor many people start to forget about friends, love, and family, but sometimes reminders are all too painful.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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Slowly the autumn faded away, the strike was long forgotten by most of the city, save for the newsies, who would remember their triumph for years to come, and the owners of the news papers who still had to keep their prices low enough to keep the children from starving. Instead, everyone was becoming fascinated with the year 1900.

Prince sighed every morning as she got herself out of bed. For a while, her hands hurt quite a bit on a daily basis. After all, sorting through the inflamed rubble from the apartment building hadn't been the best plan, but the burns took quite a bit of time to heal. She wasn't the only either, as Jem was also recovering from the burns he'd suffered. However, Prince took care of the small boy as best she could, and the other boys helped Prince do things that hurt her hands like tying her shoes for one, which was a bit annoying for her. After a while, she insisted on doing these things herself, and just tried to move on with life the best she could.

She found this difficult because life didn't feel the same as when she was a young newsie. The magic seemed to disappear but only from her personal experience, and now she realized why, Avalanche was gone. True, the newsies still had a certain magic about them, but all the same without her loving leader there, something was just missing. However, Prince did her best to put the magic into life of younger newsies, the way Avalanche had for her. It was a difficult task to accomplish, mostly due to the fact that Avalanche had always been so light hearted and fun loving, and Prince had always been a deep thinker and more of a mental person than someone who strove for fun. It just didn't seem the same. Besides all that she wished that was that just one of the older newsies was still there to tell her what to do. She wasn't ready to be on her own yet, so she thought.

The young girl loved being a newsie, inside and out, and to her very core. However on occasion she would glance back at the present that Avalanche had given her for Christmas one year, extra special. He had given her scented bath soaps, to make her feel a little more like a girl. She was starting to use them more and more these days. Though the pants were comfortable, and the shirts were loose, she was growing up, gaining a figure, and soon being a boy would be harder. Sometimes, she just wished she could slip into a dress, leave her hair down and be a young lady again, but to her at the moment, it seemed impossible.

It took several months before the young boy they'd saved in the fire that night, Jem spoke more than two words to anyone. And on that day he came up to Prince and tugged on her shirt. "Heya kiddo," she said. They were outside at the time, so the pitch in her voice was low and controlled deeply. "How are ya?"

He nodded in a positive motion, signaling he was good. Prince didn't blame the kid for not talking. Sometimes, it just seems like there isn't much else to say, and she figured that was how Jem felt about things. "Good," she said as she tugged his hat down over his eyes making him smile and even laugh a little. She loved seeing the sparkle in his young blue eyes.

Prince stood and offered her hand to him to lead him down the street, which he took quickly as they headed for distribution. After a few minutes he spoke quietly, "Prince?" he said.

She looked down at him a little surprised. "Yeah kid? What is it?"

"In exactly one week, it's my birthday."

Prince was shocked, first of all, the kid was talking full sentences, but he actually seemed excited and happy about something! This was a miracle. "Really?" she said after a moment to get her voice back. "How old?"

"Seven," he said. Wow, Prince thought to herself, the kid really was young. "I'm excited! I like the number seven."

"Oh yeah?" Prince said with a chuckle. "Well good thing! Because you're gonna be stuck with it for a whole year!" She turned and tickled him and he laughed a real laugh. It appeared as though the child was getting over the shock and moving on with his life. She was proud of him, and it got her thinking, as everything did these days. If this small kid could get on with life even when he'd been dealt an ace two off suit, maybe she could make good of her situation too.

It was Jem who inspired her out of her funk. It was then she started laughing all the time, and she started telling kids to play cards on rainy days and teaching small children to read. It was then that Prince started to smile. She'd found at least someone who she could live for, and someone who really needed her. After a while, all the newsies started treating her as though she was a mother, and not a leader. They respected her like a mother, did as they were told, and even were fairly well behaved. Things in Queens were going great.

Not long after this conversation and inspiration struck the winds picked up even more and selling became even more difficult as the weather grew colder day by day. And before anyone was ready for it, winter struck.

For Prince, Winter was a magical season, but at the same time, she was very aware of the dangers it presented. She warned the boys not to stay out too long in the cold. She didn't want them getting lost or anything. She would always start to worry if a boy didn't come home after a few days, but these days, if it was getting late and the person she was concerned for wasn't home, she'd be scared they were out frozen in the ice of the season. It was silly really, and Wit had to talk her down from the window more than once.

Why Prince got so worried was really silly. Every time she worried the boys would be home the next day, saying it was too cold to walk, or they couldn't see in the snow, so they had found another lodging house or safe place to be. Prince's worrying was often for not, more than it was justified.

As winter was passing Prince lost track of the days, simply getting up every day, selling, trying to eat, selling more, and then sleeping and trying to get warm. Every day became a pattern, an unbreakable routine, but one she enjoyed enough, all the same.

That was until one morning. She waited around for Jem to get ready, the small boy always being the last one ready in the morning, mostly because he was too timid to tell anyone to get out of his way, and waited his turn politely, which meant he was always slow. But that day, the boys had given him special instruction. "Prince," he said as they were getting close to the door, "I forgot my scarf," and he ran upstairs without a word.

"I'll meet you outside kid!" she called. As she opened the door she was pummeled with precisely sixteen snowballs. Was it possible it was December seventeenth already?

"Happy birthday Prince!" the boys chorused before they laughed, patted each other on the back, and turned their back on their leader and headed towards distribution. But there was a big difference between sixteen and thirteen.

"Thank you boys," she called sarcastically in a deep pitch. And then swooped down off the stoop and started making and throwing snowballs faster than any of them thought humanly possible! Wit was the first one to get hit.

"Hey!" he called and instantly started to retaliate.

"Don't worry Prince," Rylet said standing beside her, "I'm on your side."

"Me too!" Two-step said siding with his leader. A few others joined Prince's side and the snowballs started flying. Even Jem joined in the fun as he left the lodging house and closed the door behind him. Yes, he had forgotten his scarf, but he had been told to, to just delay her a little bit longer. He joined Prince's ranks and started throwing snowballs.

_"Hey Snowball…"_ the words suddenly echoed in Prince's head from nowhere. A pang was sent through her heart as she remembered Avalanche again. She just couldn't get over him leaving. Prince of course had never called him snowball, that was a nickname reserved only for…

_"Shove it ya Red-head!"_ the former Brooklyn leader. Both of whom seemed distant memories, no more than fairy tales once again.

Caught up in memories a snowball hit Prince smack in the face. "Oh ya gonna get it now!" she said as she returned to reality and started chasing the opposing team towards distribution.

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_Avalanche chuckled. "Virginia wasn't that amazing…" he said shaking his head._

"_Well it's good ta have ya back," Prince said as she poured herself a cup of tea and Avalanche as well. _

"_More tea Red?"_

"_Love some."_

_Wait a second? Tea?_

Prince's eyes slowly opened as she looked around the lodging house. "Stupid dream," she muttered to herself as she got out of bed. ...Tea?

Somehow, it seemed over night, Prince woke up and was returned to spring. This was fine by her, the mild temperatures made for easier selling, and more comfortable weather to sell in. The snow had melted quickly, and the coming of the year 1900 had arrived just as the others had. There had been a rousing party on the Brooklyn Bridge, with any and every newsie invited. Prince spent most of the evening talking to, and getting drunk with Spot, Ace, and Jack. It had been a great night… or she thought it had been. She wished she could remember more of it. All she remembered was waking up in Brooklyn in the lodging house, and having no idea where her left shoe was. That was until she found it, under the sink, in the kitchen.

Either way, Spring time had arrived, and things had never been brighter while Prince was in charge than they were right now.

As Prince and Jem headed out for selling that morning the boy talked a mile a minute, which was nothing but music to Prince's ears. He was telling her the epic story of how he had almost lost his last paper to the wind yesterday, and if you had asked Jem, yes it was truly an epic adventure.

The two of them walked down the street and suddenly Prince pulled Jem into an alley, rather seriously. She pressed her back against the wall and put a hand over Jem's mouth to quiet his talking, and he instantly obliged. The Warden Snyder walked by the alley talking to a couple of policemen. Prince held her breath, not daring to breathe. It had been three years since she had seen the Warden, and here he was a few feet away. He was too busy talking to the policemen however. He seemed to be telling them about the city of Queens… they were probably new to the force.

As the Warden passed Prince knelt down, motioned to Jem and the young boy hopped on her back. She picked up the young boy and ran the rest of the way to distribution. It wasn't until she sat Jem down on the ramp that he looked at her curiously. "Why did you do that?"

Prince looked at the small curious boy and smiled to him. "It's a game we play," she said. "All the newsies, all over New York play it. It's kind of like hide and seek, but the goal is ta not let the Warden see you," she said grinning to him.

"Oh I can be good at that! I would duck and hide and run. I'm a real good runner!"

Crisis averted Prince could now relax. "Yes ya are kiddo," she said. "C'mon, grab the papers will ya. I'm gonna take ya with me today."

"Okay!" he said excited to be joining Prince on a day of selling. She gave him the money, he got the papers, and the two of them went off.

In the back of Prince's ever working mind, though her face didn't show it, she was thinking about the Warden. When was the last time she'd seen him in Queens? Never that she could recall, and why was that? How had she managed to not see him in Queens in three years? To her it was a mystery, and would probably stay as such.

Prince and Jem were walking down the street hawking headlines. Jem was up on Prince's shoulders. He was good at balancing there, because any time Prince would leisurely walk that was where he would ride.

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A/N: My sincerest apologies for the late update. I had a rather long weekend and ended up sleeping for the majority of Monday. However, as promised previously, the next will be coming on Thursday. For those of you who reviewed, thank you so much! I love knowing that someone is there and I'm not posting to empty air. (You don't even have to say anything constructive a simply "hi!" in an update would be highly appreciated if you haven't reviewed yet, but not required.) Anyway! Thank you for following along, and I will be seein' you on Thursday!


	6. 06 Lookin' for a Boy

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 6: Lookin' for a Boy

Summary: At the turn of the century, New York City is a busy town. Sometimes the important things get lost in the madness. As life goes on in the sweatshops and the child labor many people start to forget about friends, love, and family, but sometimes reminders are all too painful.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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A little later that day, before the evening edition of the newspaper came out Prince told the boys she wasn't going to be around for a little bit. She left Wit to watch Jem, and make sure that everyone was out of the lodging house in time to sell… and she made her way to Manhattan.

She told no one where she was going, or why, but now that she was sixteen, she was noticing a few things. But, as previously mentioned, appearing to be a boy was becoming harder, and it seemed that over night, she suddenly had an issue that she needed to hide more than ever. Her hair had never been a problem, but now? She would need to add to her wardrobe yet again to keep this problem hidden.

Prince made the long trek to Manhattan, and eventually arrived backstage at Irving Hall, where Miss Medda Larkson lived. Medda was a very kind woman with fiery red hair, and a personality to match. She was a woman of power, like Prince, and was a rarity in those days. Medda was the owner and operator of Irving Hall, a vaudeville house in Manhattan. All the same, Prince hoped that Medda would help her.

Despite the fact that Prince's least favorite type of humans were adults, she needed to find one that she could really trust, and, hopefully, Medda was going to be that one. She especially believed she needed one in Manhattan, now that Avalanche had gone and she felt her protection had dwindled. She approached the stage door of Irving Hall and knocked loudly.

A stage hand answered the door. "Go away kid," he said, but Prince got her foot in before he could close it on her. "I said move it!"

"I need ta talk ta Medda," she said arms crossed across her chest as she looked up at the stage hand. "Got somethin' of an act for her," she lied.

The man looked at Prince skeptically. "Fine," he said and let her in. It wasn't because of the lie about the act, it was because he knew Medda would occasionally let the newsies back stage, and this kid looked like one. Why turn them away? Medda wouldn't be happy to hear that he had done that later, should she find out. Better to just let the kid in.

"We gotta show tonight, so she might not wanna be bothered," but he lead Prince back to the woman's dressing room anyway. He knocked. "Miss Medda! Someone here to see you."

Medda answered the door in a dark green dressing gown. She looked from the man to the boy, who was Prince. "Come on in kid," she said as she opened the door. The stage hand left, and Prince entered. She closed the door and looked at him. "I don't think I know you, do I?" she asked as she crouched down and looked Prince square in the face.

"Naw," she said keeping the tone of her voice low, "but I'm a friend of Kelly's," she said honestly. Truth be told, it was Jack who gave her the idea to come here, in a rather roundabout way. He had mentioned that he knew Medda at Irving hall, and that she had some beautiful clothes. Prince thought, who better than a woman in show business to help her out with a costume?

"Oh," she said with a small smile. "Well, tell me then," she said as she walked over to her wooden vanity and sat on the satin stool, "how can I help you?" Any friend of Jack's was a friend of hers.

"Wull ya see," Prince said. "I got… kinda a secret that needs ta be kept… and I'm havin' a hard time keepin' it." She slowly reached up and took off her hat, letting the two feet of hair go down her back. "See… I need to look like a boy."

Medda smiled, but to Prince's surprise Medda didn't seem shocked that she was a girl. "You do a very good job of pulling it off dear," she said grinning. "I really had a hard time figuring it out, but I'll agree, up close, you do look a little feminine." Prince let out an aggravated sigh. Great. Why couldn't she just look like a kid forever? Kids didn't look like boys or girls, they looked like kids!

"Help me?" she asked in a normal voice.

"Only if you tell me why you want to look like a boy. You've got a lovely face, and beautiful hair. Why on earth would you want to hide it?"

Prince brushed off the compliments as silly small talk. She never took a compliment of being anything but "boyish" to heart, especially ones that could ruin her.

"I'm… kinda in a rough spot," she said. "Someone's lookin' for me, but they're lookin' for a girl. See, if I look like a boy then… well they ain't gonna be lookin' for a boy, right?"

Medda nodded. It seemed like a good enough reason to her, and since when had she been the type to question the newsies beyond the shallow stories that they told? "Alright, I'll help you. Shall we cut your-"

"No," Prince said grabbing a hold of her hair protectively. "No, I've been able to hide my hair under my hat for a long time now and… it's special to me, I dun wanna cut it."

"Suit yourself, but we should at least shave off some of it in the back, so it looks a little cleaner." This Prince could agree to. "What else do you need?"

Prince sighed. This was the part she was not looking forward to. "Well… just this winter I turned sixteen and…" she said kind of trailing off her sentence as she pulled her shirt tightly around her torso.

"Sixteen? Oh my, you are… oh," and she could see suddenly that Prince's developing figure was not going to be a good thing. "Alright, I think I have things that can help with that too," though she was used to accenting that part of the body, trying to hide it was going to be a challenge that she was up to.

"Any ideas for my face?" Prince asked hoping she might have some make-up or something that would make her look a little more boyish.

Medda thought for a moment. "All I can suggest is get it dirty," she said nodding. "Get dark circles under your eyes, get some dirt or soot on your face and hands every day. Girls your age are typically clean, so if you're a bit dirtier it'll be harder to pick you out as a girl." Prince seemed to think this was a manageable concept and agreed.

"Alright, now let's start with your figure, shall we?" Medda left her dressing room and headed off towards a costume part of the building. Prince followed her.

Medda started going through rows and rows of corsets trying to find one that would do the job Prince was looking for, but these all slimmed the waist, and accentuated the chest, these simply wouldn't do. "We need something… a little more practical, this way," as she headed towards the undergarments that they kept on hand at the hall.

Despite being a girl, Prince sure felt like a boy as Medda was looking through the things. Prince just kept her head down and her eyes averted.

"Here we are," she said pulling out what Prince thought looked like a leg brace.

"…what is it?"

"Well technically it's a corset, but I think you'll be able to use it as a bra."

Prince blinked uncomfortably. Prince never talked about these kinds of things, with anyone. To be honest, she was very lucky that she was a late bloomer.

"Take off your shirt."

"What?" Prince covered her chest with her arms. No one had ever requested that of her before ever. Even when she went swimming in the river with the boys the shirt always stayed on!

"Take it off, and I'll show you what to do."

Prince had to bite back a groan as she turned around and started undoing the buttons. Medda tried very hard not to laugh but couldn't help it. The poor young girl was so used to being a boy it was just humorous to say the least.

Finally after what felt like a million buttons Prince let the shirt slide off from her shoulders and she held it in her right hand. "Do I have to turn around?"

Medda giggled. "Not at the moment, but at some point you will. Drop your shirt," Prince sighed, and then obeyed. "Now arms up." Prince put her arms straight up in the air, and Medda slipped the strip of fabric down. It was oddly comfortable, like soft silk, or very soft cotton. She didn't know what it was, all she knew was that it did not feel anything like her work shirts.

"Okay," Medda said, "listen closely. I want you to adjust this so that it's covering your chest. Get it flat against you." Prince had to finagle it a little around herself but soon the fabric was completely covering the area she was hoping to suppress.

"Okay."

"Turn around," Medda asked and Prince turned to Medda so she could see. Medda looked at her for a second and then nodded. "I think it might need some shoulder straps," she said examining it. Prince's waist was so small that it would eventually fall down without them, "but I can stitch those on in no time." Medda took a step towards her and Prince backed up a step. "Sorry," she said putting her hands up. "Can I just adjust it a little? And make marks for the straps?"

Not really having much else of a choice, Prince nodded and let Medda adjust the fabric so it lay where it was supposed to. She then found an old box of scraps and pulled out of it pieces of white fabric. She measured how long the straps should be with that first, and then where they should be placed on Prince's make-shift boy-maker.

"Okay, turn around again." Prince obliged believing that Medda would now take it off. She couldn't have been more wrong. Prince had forgotten that it worked like a corset, and corsets tightened in the back. It had fit her comfortably before, just covering the areas of her body it was meant to, but now?

"Ow! Jesus!" Prince cursed loudly.

"I'm sorry," Medda said, "But this has to be tight or you'll give yourself away."

"Hows about a little warnin' next time huh?"

Medda bit her lip. She might have not given Prince a warning on purpose. Besides, the first time these things tend to knock the air out of you, and the less prepared you are, the less you'll think and try to adjust them the way you were comfortable, and more towards what you're trying to achieve. "Sorry," she apologized again with a small smirk.

She tightened the laces on the back a little more and then tied it up. "Turn around again."

Prince did find that her posture was a little better now, but breathing was a little harder. "I think under a shirt, they might just look like muscles," Medda nodded. "I think you're going to be okay."

Prince couldn't help but smile at her. Maybe not all adults were so bad. Fair enough.

"Now, let's get the straps sewn on!"Medda took the young girl back down stairs and into her dressing room once more. Prince put her hat back on and her hair back up and Medda called in one of her girls to come and cut off some of the longer hairs that were on the Prince's neck with a razor. The girl was happy to help, though annoyed when Prince refused to take off her hat. However, Medda said it was fine if she kept it on, so the showgirl didn't fight it, and simply cut the hairs short like Medda asked. Meanwhile, the hall owner was sewing the straps onto Prince's new wardrobe piece.

Once the show girl had left, Medda had her try it on the undergarment again, just to check the straps. "I think that'll do it," she said and tightened it for Prince again. "Now, the only down fall, is you'll have to find someone to do this for you every day. The strings will get looser and possibly break. If you need new strings, or if something breaks that you can't fix or replace, come back here, and I'll try and see what I can do." Medda made a mental note that she ought to make one or two more of these, should the entire thing come apart and Prince needed a new one.

Prince thought about it, and wasn't sure how she was going to find someone to tie up her chest every day, though she was sure Wit would give her a hand, that was going to be an awkward conversation.

"Thanks Medda," Prince said sincerely. "Thanks a lot, do I owe ya anythin'?"

Medda shook her head. "I wasn't going to be using that any time soon I don't think anyway. So I won't miss it. It's mostly scraps, and nothing of real use." And Prince was satisfied with that. And though she wished she could repay the Irving Hall owner somehow, she would just remember that she owed her one, and maybe someday, it would come up.

"Oh wait!" Medda remembered something. "Here," she ran over to a box of things and pulled out some shirts. "These should fit you alright too," she said. "You're going to need some baggier shirts to help hide your figure, and these should do nicely. Roll up the sleeves," she instructed," or cut them off if you like." Medda started tying them up in a canvass bag for her.

She then stopped before giving it to Prince. "…what?" Prince said when Medda was staring at her.

"Dear," she said, "do you own any dresses?"

Prince thought for a second. All she really had was the brown skirt she'd run away in long ago, and had by far outgrown that. She shook her head.

"I have an old one, if you want it," she said. "Since the corset fit you I'm sure this will too. It's got a few holes in it, and one of our girls didn't want it any longer… I'll just send it with you and you can sew it up, how's that?"

Prince really didn't know what to say. She had no idea why she would ever want to wear a dress, but perhaps having one on hand could never hurt. Chances were good she'd fix it up, fold it up, store it away, and never wear it. But maybe someday around the lodging house where she was safe. The girl could dream after all. "Alright," she said accepting the gift.

Medda placed the lightly colored pale purple dress into the bag as well. It was most certainly a little ratty, a little worn, and by no means perfect, but it was a dress, and Prince was a little excited about it.

"That should do you," she said handing the girl the bag. "If you need anything else, ever, just come by again," she said nodding. Medda really was a kind soul, and Prince thanked God that she had thought to come here and see her.

Prince, her sense of security slightly renewed, a few pieces of good advice, a few shorter hairs, a bag of new clothes, and a breath constrictor around her chest, bid Medda good day, and set back off for Queens. She couldn't help but smile as she walked through Manhattan. She might yet make it out alive.

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"Wit?" Prince said as she came into the lodging house.

"In here! What do you want?" he called from the Kitchen.

"Come up stairs."

"…why?"

"Just do it!"

Prince went up the stairs and waited for Wit in the bunk room. "What's the deal Prince?"

"I need ya ta do me a favor."

"…kay. What?"

"Okay well… look…" how was she gonna explain this? "So, I'm gettin' older now, and… stuff… and… look, just… I need ya ta do me a favor." She turned around and lifted up the back of her shirt to show him.

"Whoa! Prince! What are ya doin'? " At first Wit covered his eyes.

Prince let her shirt down turned around and shoved him. "Will ya quit messin' around! Just look!" She turned and lifted up her shirt again.

"What the hell is that?"

"It's a corset. It… makes ya skinnier if you wanna be skinnier somewhere."

"Do you wanna be skinnier?"

"No… focus! Look," she explained. "I just need ya ta tie it for me in the morning," she said calmly. "Ya think ya can handle that simple of a job?"

"Sure… why?"

"Stop askin' questions! Just… please?" she let her shirt down and turned around to face him again. "It's gonna hafta be real tight every day. Can ya do that?"

Wit shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I can, sure?"

"Okay, that's all I needed…" She looked at him and with a sincere smile said, "Thanks, really," she patted him on the shoulder and then went downstairs

Wit was left standing in the bunkroom, mind practically blown away as he starred after her. He didn't get it really, so he thought for a second, decided not to think about it would be better, shrugged, and went downstairs.

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A few days later Prince was still getting used to the feel of the corset, but at least she was able to breathe a little better in it now after a few days of practice. It was just odd having a continuous tightness around her chest. She'd undo it when she got into bed for the night, but not take it off. Then in the morning She'd lift up the back of her shirt, and Wit would re-tie it for her. As time went on he got more comfortable with it, and so did she, and it wasn't awkward anymore for either of them, just part of the routine.

It was a nice warm spring day and Prince was out selling with Jem for the evening edition. He was up on her shoulders again, which was a little more difficult with the new corset attached around her chest. But she wanted to hold up appearances, and she wanted as few people to know as humanly possible.

"Hey Prince?" Jem said looking down at his leader from atop her shoulders.

"Yeah Jem?"

"How tall am I gonna be?"

Prince was a little confused as she looked up at him. "I dunno kid…" she laughed, "why?"

"Wull, because if I get too tall then sitting on your shoulders will be hard because my legs might dangle on the ground."

"Jem… where do you come up with this stuff?"

Suddenly a loud noise cut through the air and Prince's head jerked in the direction. Jem followed her gaze. "What was that?" the young boy asked eyes growing wide. She picked the boy up and sat him down on the ground "It sounded like… someone laughing really hard."

And then there it was again. She knelt down and let him climb onto her back rather than her shoulders. She'd know that sound anywhere. "That Jem… is an Avalanche."

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A/N: I must say, I do enjoy this chapter, and I hope you did too! That's all you get for the weekend, so it'll just have to hold you over until Monday. I'll see ya then, hope you're as excited as I am!


	7. 07 The Perfect Spot

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 7: The Perfect Spot

Summary: At the turn of the century, New York City is a busy town. Sometimes the important things get lost in the madness. As life goes on in the sweatshops and the child labor many people start to forget about friends, love, and family, but sometimes reminders are all too painful.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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"I'm tellin' ya Snowball," Red said as he sat beside his comrade on the train heading back to New York, "I really wasn't plan on comin' back any time soon."

"And I'm tellin' you, Red-head," Avalanche said, "You are a New Yorker, you couldn't stay away forever."

Red shook his head at his friend and smiled. "You think you know me so well."

"Only because I do," Avalanche said pointedly. The train was zooming through the city at this point, and they were nearing the station.

It had all happened by accident in the most honest sense of the word. Avalanche, or Alex, the former leader of Queens was headed to Virginia in hopes of setting out and making a life for himself. However, life in Richmond was a little more difficult and less up to date than it was in New York. Though it was a lovely city, and he had nothing against it, he missed his home. He missed his friends, and he wanted to return more than anything to the place where the buildings were more than 5 stories, and the people were always in a hurry, and you could get food at any time of day. He wanted to go back. So despite his promises, despite all he had planned, and despite his new job, he grabbed his suit case, packed everything up and caught the first train home.

However, traveling up the eastern coast was by no means a quick jaunt, or was it a short one. They stopped in all the major cities along the way. He didn't buy a ticket to New York, he bought a ticket to the next closest city, trying to make his money last to get him all the way home. However, upon reaching Philadelphia and realizing he was so close he hit a road block. Funds were too short to get him all the way back to New York.

Avalanche went out into the city in hopes of finding a job. Something part time, just enough money to get him home. For lack of a better plan, he picked up newspapers and started selling them on the street, reverting back to his old talent of hawking headlines. Newsies were still used all over in major cities, so why not here? As he was out selling one day, shouting headlines, at the top of his avalanche-causing voice he was stopped by a man in the crowed. The man wore a loose fitting white shirt, black pants, and had a newsie cap pulled down over his eyes. Avalanche sold the man a paper before he looked at the man before seeing who it was.

"Red-head! You ol' Son of a Gun! How ya been?"

"Fine," he said with a broad smile. "I missed you," he said giving his good friend a hug.

"Hey, me too," he said back with a grin the size of New York itself on his face.

"Why you out here hawkin' headlines?" Red said in complete dismay.

"Just trying to get enough money to get home."

Red nodded a serene sort of smile on his face. "Why didn't ya tell me that in the first place?" The two of them finished selling papers together. And suddenly they both realized how much they had not only missed each other, but they missed their newsie friends as well. And Avalanche, though not being the most observant of people, was able to notice Red enjoying himself.

"You're comin' with me," Avalanche informed him when Red offered to pay his train fare.

"No, no," Red said shaking his head. "I have a life here, I gotta job. I got friends."

Avalanche stared at him blankly. He believed him, but Red would never be home until he was in Brooklyn. "You're comin' with me."

"I gotta pack up, I can't go now, I… wait. I can't go at all! I'm staying here!"

It took Avalanche another half an hour to convince the elder to come with him. And honestly, that was longer than he had been expecting, though he had been expecting to win.

The two went back to Red's apartment. They pawned off things that weren't needed packed up the rest, and sooner rather than later the two of them were on a train and coming home.

The second the train had stopped in Grand Central Station the two boys leapt off, collected their luggage quickly and attempted to decide what to do first. "We need a place ta be," Avalanche said. They both knew good and well they weren't newsies anymore, and they weren't going to have the success selling here that they had in Virginia. Avalanche was too tall, and Red was simply not looking young enough anymore. "And jobs."

"I got the perfect Spot," Red said with a grin… and the two of them headed for Brooklyn.

Upon their arrival, Red made his presence known at the Brooklyn lodging house, upon where he was greeted with loud hellos and claps on the back for his return. Spot himself was glad to see his old mentor and the closest thing that he'd ever had to a father figure home again. "Wondered when you'd be coming back."

"I'm a New Yorker," Red said, "I couldn't stay away forever." Avalanche rolled his eyes. Sounded familiar.

"Well come in, stay a while."

Red shook his head. "No, we're here to find a more… permanent place of residence," he said.

Spot nodded. "Fair enough. I'll walk with you shall I?" Avalanche still had no idea what was going on. But when Brooklyn was involved, he had gotten used to it.

He followed Red and Spot Conlon down the street of Brooklyn and they soon landed at an apartment building. Spot helped the two boys carry their bags up stairs and the owner gave them a place to live right away. The two boys got moved in with the young leader's help and soon were settled. Of course by this time it was getting late in the day, so finding a job that evening was going to be next to impossible. All the same, the three boys stayed up late, "celebrating" their return to the city with a nice bottle of whiskey.

Come the next morning Spot Conlon headed out bright and early, he had kids to watch, and papers to sell after all, and he had tried to go a little easy on the alcohol the night before to lessen his hang over, and he had succeeded, for the most part. The other two however, had headaches to high heaven, but set out anyway.

Avalanche wanted to go see Prince in Queens more than anything, however, the unfortunate fact of the matter was they needed jobs first. The two boys split up in search of job opportunities. They reunited only hours later both having found places to work for now. Red was going to be working as a bar tender at a pub he used to frequent as a young newsie, and Avalanche would be using his strength and height down at the docks loading and unloading ships. The boys decided it had been a rather productive day. Neither of them would be starting until Monday, and it being only Thursday the boys headed for Queens to see if they could locate Prince during the evening edition of the paper.

"Hey Snowball?"

Avalanche sighed at the nickname. He'd never been too awful fond of it, but he dealt with it all the same. No one but Red ever called him that. "Yeah, Red-head?"

"Ya been to any auctions while you were outta town?" he asked with a sideways smirk at his best friend.

"Uh, No, why you ask?" he asked rather confused.

"Well I was at an auction in Philadelphia and everyone else said they were havin' a hard time listenin' to the auctioneer, but the speed he was talkin' was real fast, and it sounded normal to me," Red said as a joke.

Avalanche got the joke and couldn't help but laugh out loud and not hold back. It was far too funny to him. And you would have to live in New York to understand.

And that was all it took for Prince to be able to find him. Suddenly she appeared a couple of blocks down. Or at least, Avalanche thought it was her. He recognized the newsie hat, and anymore, any newsie was recognizable by the color of their shirt and the shape of their hat. The longer he looked, the more he was sure. It was Prince alright. He waved and called out to her, "Prince!"

The smile on Prince's face was a mile wide as she sat Jem on the ground, and Avalanche sprinted towards his favorite Queens kid. He enveloped his young friend in a hug. Prince couldn't help but smile back and just hold her leader in her arms. She had missed him so much.

Red smirked and hurried to catch up with the two. By the time he arrived at Avalanche's side he said, "yeesh, let the girl breathe will ya?" he said.

The two of them took a step back, and Prince looked at Red before she hugged him too. "It's been far too long Red! Where ya been?" she asked as she took another step back yet again and looked at him with bright shining eyes.

He was a bit surprised. When was the last time he'd seen this girl? Surely it hadn't been when she was just 13? He must have seen her sometime in the last three years, but when had she changed so much? "I uh… well you know me, can't stay in one place to long," he said with a chuckle. "Hey… who's the short stuff?"

Prince smiled up at the two of them and then turned to Avalanche. "Avie, I'd like ya ta meet Jem," she said. She turned to introduce the small boy, but noticed he wasn't beside her. "Jem?"

He tugged on the back of her shirt. He was hiding behind her, nervous of meeting new people. She smiled like a mother of a young child and then turned around to talk to him. She crouched down to his level. "Jemmy," she said, "This is Avalanche, and he was my leader when I was younger."

"When you were my age?"

Prince thought about that. "Almost," not even close, but that wasn't relevant at that moment. "He's my oldest friend, ain't you gonna say hi?" He nodded quietly and Prince stood up and turned around. Jem didn't come out from behind her, but he poked his head out and looked up at the giant men in front of her. He took one hand and opened and closed it many times over, doing a sort of small wave. But he didn't say anything.

"He's shy," she explained. Avalanche took his hat off and got down to Jem's level, figuring the height to be a little intimidating. "Heya kiddo," he said. Prince felt like a small girl again as Avalanche talked to Jem as he had heard him talk so many years ago when she had been young. "How old are you?"

"Almost eight," he said quietly. That may not be the most accurate sentance, but Prince wasn't gonna call him on it.

"Wow," Avalanche said with wide eyes. "That's old…" he said which made Jem smile. "I'm younger than you are."

"Nuh-uh!" Jem said as he got a little bolder and came out a little more. "How old are you?"

"Three," Avalanche said folding his arms and putting a real proud look on his face. Red and Prince simply watched the spectacle before them. No one was as brilliant at this sort of thing like Avalanche was.

"No way! You're a giant!" Jem said not able to believe a word the man said, but intensely interested all the same.

"Oh yeah? Red c'mere."

Red looked at Prince who only smiled and shrugged. Red then joined Avalanche crouched down on the ground in front of Jem. "Red… how old am I?"

Red thought that he might as well answer honestly. "You're 21, Snowball."

"But how much is two plus one?"

Red rolled his eyes. "…three."

"I rest my case!"

Jem laughed out loud and was now fully out from behind Prince. The young girl could do nothing but shake her head and chuckle as Avalanche and Red stood up to full height again.

"So come on then! Take us home! I wanna see my boys," Avalanche said.

Prince's smile faltered a little, as she remembered the events of the night that had brought Jem to her in the first place. She sighed a little and turned to the Brooklynite. "Red," she said, "would you mind taking Jem for a minute?" And by that she meant go on ahead, and let them walk a little behind.

"No problem Prince," he said as he looked at her for a moment longer than average, which Prince noticed, and then swooped up behind the young one and set him on his shoulders. "You ever been up this high before kiddo?" he asked.

"No! This is really high!" and he held on to Red's worn newsie cap for fear of falling.

"It's okay kid, I gotcha." And the two moved a little ahead.

"Avie," Prince said as they walked through the streets.

"Prince I've really missed ya kid," he said shaking his head. "I expect at least two more hugs by the time we get home," he said.

"No, Avie…"

"You and me are gonna have a great night, I think we should really celebrate comin' home and such, what do you think? I think we should have a party and-"

"Avalanche," she said in such a tone it startled her former leader and he was forced to look at her. And then he saw the look in her eyes. "What is it?"

Prince sighed. "Last summer, a couple weeks… I think… after you left, there was a fire near the lodging house…"

"Is it still there?" he asked now scared that his teenage home was gone.

"Yes," she said. "It's still there," she was calm, but Avalanche's mind was making him frantic to hear all she had to say. "There were three boys who went in to help some of the people who lived in the apartment building that was on fire. Dice, Shark and…" she swallowed, "Keys aren't with us anymore."

Avalanche grew deathly silent as he took at all in. Dice and Shark had been great friends of his, and at least a little closer to his age than the others. Shark was probably about done being a newsie. As for Keys, he was no older than Prince, or not by much anyway, Avalanche had lost track.

"I'm the oldest one in the Lodging house right now. Followed by Wit…" she said quietly to him.

Avalanche sighed quietly, and closed his eyes for a moment before looking down at the ground. "Prince… I'm so sorry. I didn't think it would get so rough so quick."

She shook her head a little. "It's okay," she said quietly. "We've managed alright, I just didn't want you to say anything to the boys when you got there. Jem's parents were lost in the fire, and he's been with us ever since. Don't mention it around him," she added.

Avalanche nodded somberly. "Alright…" he looked at her. He could tell that she hadn't been okay when it happened, and that it probably took a toll on the lodging house completely, but he had no idea. What else had he missed?

"Come on," she said trying to brighten up the mood a little, "let's get home and start that party you talked about, okay?" she said with a bright smile.

"…Yeah," Avalanche said brightening up with her. She really was getting to be quite the influential leader, he could tell. "Hey…" he said as he looked at her. "_Maireann croí éadrom i bhfad_?"

Prince smiled brightly as she remembered saying that to him as he rode away on a train. "A light heart, lives longest," she said.

He nodded. "I like it." He grabbed her hand and hurried to catch up with Red and Jem who were nearly a block ahead of them by now, and the four of them continued towards the Queens lodging house.

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A/N: After last week's update, for anyone following along, I thought you might appreciate an update sooner rather than later this lovely Monday. Hope all are doing well, and I'll be back on Thursday with yet another update. Have a great week!


	8. 08 Don't You Dare

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 8: Don't You Dare

Summary: As life goes on in the sweatshops and the child labor continues in New York City, many people start to forget about friends, love, and family. However, as friends become family, love blossoms, and family becomes uncertain, remembering becomes difficult.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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The front door of the Queens lodging house barely opened, but the sound of the creek made everyone who was sitting around look up. They were mostly confused because no one came in. And whenever the door creaked that usually meant someone was coming in. Typically it didn't get any regard, but since no one was there, it got everyone to look.

Then very slowly Avalanche's head poked around the side of the door, a giant smile on his face. "Miss me?" he asked the boys.

Well that was obviously a silly question because every child who knew Avalanche was on their feet and running for the door, shouting his name, saying hello, asking question after question, and somehow Avalanche managed to greet them all. "Okay okay! Everyone, into the main room! I'll tell you all the amazing tale of my journey!" He headed towards Prince's favorite chair. Red sent Jem off to listen to the 'amazing tale'… that Avalanche would make up on the spot, he knew. He turned to Prince to ask her something, but she disappeared like a ghost. He then heard something in the kitchen. He smiled a little and headed in that direction.

He peeked his head in the door. "Ow!" Prince said as she shook her hand and then sucked on her finger. Red smiled a little. "Stupid… kettle… being hot."

He came in. "Ya know that's what happens… when you put kettles on hot stoves, they get hot."

"Yeah thanks," she said as she glanced at him shaking her head with a smirk.

"Hey Prince," Red said in a taunting manner, with a small smile.

"What?" she asked fairly distracted.

Quick as lightning, the next events occurred. Red chuckled a little and very quickly grabbed the top of her hat and attempted to pull it off her head before he could she reached up grabbed the brim, spun around on the ball of her foot and punched Red in the stomach causing him to double over.

"Oh God, Red!" Prince said instantly feeling bad. "I'm sorry! I… uh… are you okay?"

"Yeah," he choked out a little as he sat down in a chair that was only a few feet from him.

"I'm sorry," she said as she followed him. "It's a reflex ya know! Ya can't…"

"I know!" he said as he held up his hands. "I forgot," he said.

Prince reached up and took her hat off her head letting her hair fall down. "Sorry," she said as she knelt down to look at him.

Red's face came up and his eyes locked with hers. He was silent for only a second, but in that second he took her in for a moment. Even with all the soot and dirt on her face he couldn't help but think she was just beautiful, especially with her hair down, and with that look in her eyes. But after that second was over he shook his head and replied, "it's ok. I'm gonna be okay." And then he was hit in the head with Prince's hat. "Hey!"

"Wull! It's your own fault. You should remember stuff like that," she said as she tossed her hat onto the table beside him. Red was getting his breath back now and shook his head at the young leader. "So," she said, "what'd you do while you were gone? Where were ya?"

Red stared at her back for a moment watching her hair, it took a second for the question to sink in. "Well," he said, "I went north a little…" to Boston, "barely any West," he didn't like going that way, he preferred the ocean front property, "south quite a bit," he wanted to see how far he could go before turning around, "and ended up in Philadelphia."

"She glanced over her shoulder at him before turning back around. "What'd ya go there for?" she asked.

"Explorin' the world a little, that was where I ended up." He said. "I had a job, met a few people, had a regular life there."

Prince mulled this over in her brain. Got a job? Got a life? Was it true that the brilliant Red that she had heard about as a kid had really grown up when he left the city? Was he not a kid like her anymore? Not that she didn't respect this about him, she did. But Prince, never really trusted adults, save for very very few, and even then it took a lot of courage for her to trust them, and never right away. "Oh," was all she said.

Red heard the tone in her voice and looked up at her. He recognized it. It was her shutting down, hiding behind big stone walls, and not letting him in. "Prince…" and he knew why. He sounded as though he hadn't missed New York at all, and hadn't missed her in the slightest, and because it appeared as though he had grown up. Prince never liked grownups, that was an old fact. She hadn't trusted them then, and she must not trust them now.

"You want some coffee?" she asked as she poured herself a cup from the kettle on the stove.

"Uh… sure," he said and she poured him one too and sat it on the table beside him and grabbed her hat. He turned his head to pick up the cup but stole a glance at her too. He could see it in her eyes. She wasn't going to be fooling around with him again, like she had just done, any time soon, if he didn't show her sometime soon that he may be older, and he may do more adult things, but by far he had never grown up. And then it occurred to him. "Avalanche said we should have a party right?"

Prince looked at him slowly and sort of cocked her head to one side. "Uh… I guess, yeah he did mention somethin'."

"Well then let's do it!" he said as he stood up. "Come on! It's evening, and the parties in this town are just getting started. We go now, we can catch one!"

"What on earth are you talkin' about?"

"I'm sayin' lets go have some fun!" he said as he downed his coffee… he was gonna need that energy to accomplish this mission. He needed Prince to see that he hadn't grown up, that he was still a kid, and he needed to show and tell her why he'd left in the first place. It was going to take more than a cup of coffee, but it was going to happen.

He offered a hand to Prince, whose eyes were wide as she had just seen the grown man down an entire cup of coffee. "Red ya must be outta ya skull!"

"I might be, but c'mon anyway."

"Red I don't… go out," she said as she sat her coffee down on the table. "I don't… dress up and go out to dance halls."

"Well ya will tonight. Come on, we'll go to the Hall here in Queens you can put on a dress and…"

"Ooooh no! No way!" she shook her head violently, she knew that wasn't safe.

Red took a deep breath and crouched down in front of her where she was still sitting at the table. "C'mon Prince… you've been playin' boy for so long, one night in a dress can't hurt, and if you don't have one I'll get you one."

She couldn't help but get stuck in his green eyes. They were piercing and bright green as the home of his Irish mother. She'd never felt like this towards Red before, why was she suddenly captured in his hair-brained schemes now? Parts of Prince's head were screaming at her that it was the worst idea in the world, to send Red home to wherever he came from or wherever he was staying this instant, and go do something else. But then there was the part of her that whispered in her ear what she said next. "I did… get a dress from Medda. I fixed it up… I can wear that," she said in a very quiet and timid voice.

Red's smile grew a mile wide. "Then we'll go out to Queens Hall tonight! I'll go get Snowball, and we'll get ready!"

"Only if Wit comes too!" she called after him. "Two-step can watch the boys while we're gone, it's only a few hours, and that kid ain't had a night off in ages."

"Sounds good to me! Wit too," he said and burst out of the kitchen calling, "Snowball! Wit! Get your acts together! We're going to go have some fun."

Prince groaned, and put her elbows on the table and her head in her hands… what was she doing? How had he talked her into this? She looked towards the kitchen door, through her fingers, where Red had just left the room and sighed. She couldn't blame the boy, he'd always been so out going, so excited about life, his personality had always matched the intensity of his color, bright red hair, and beautiful green eyes. So now that Red had talked her into it, it was her turn to convince herself.

She stood up. "Just one night," she whispered. "Nothing will go wrong in one night. I'll put on a dress… we'll go out, we'll come home, no one will know me, no one will see me, and it will be fun… right?" she sighed as she caught at her reflection in the darkening window, only half of her face showing up due the glare from the twilight outside.

She looked at her own eyes for a second, and then nodded determined. "Right," she smiled at herself and then ran towards the bunk room. She located the dress she'd fixed up, found her soaps and started washing her face. She was going to have fun tonight whether she liked it or not!

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A few minutes later Prince came down the stairs. Her hair was brushed long, but not pulled back at all, she didn't know how, and had nothing to do it with really, so it was simply down. The pale purple dress had fit her like Medda promised it would. It did look a little old and worn, but over all, it was a dress, and Prince didn't mind the sensation at all. It was lovely to have her legs free, and to not have that chocking corset around her chest, if just for one night of her life. The dress supported the chest that she did have well enough for the evening that she wouldn't need anything else under it.

Red, Avalanche and Wit were waiting for her at the base of the stairs. All of them had done their best to clean up a little. It wasn't as though they were going anywhere high society, it was just out to enjoy themselves in an evening in New York city. They would probably sit at a table, have a soda, spend way too much money, and come home exhausted and not sleep very long.

However, all three boys, well really, all of the boys of the Queens lodging house were shocked when the young Miss Prince came downstairs. They had never seen their leader in a dress _ever_.

Avalanche had only seen her in a skirt, as had Two-step as had several of the boys when she first showed up at the Lodging House, but they hadn't seen her looking like this, ever. Wit just smiled at her dumbly. His mind wasn't really thinking much at all, he was just wondering where she'd gotten the dress, he hadn't seen it before.

"Whoa," Avlanche said as he stared at her. "…wull that's… uh… different." It was weird for him. Well, he thought she looked alright as a girl, it just wasn't Prince, and a small part of him wasn't a big fan. He thought for a second just telling her, no, she should go back up stairs and put on her pants, and go out looking like a boy. She would be safer, and, for his own selfish reasons, she'd look right. Before Avalanche said anything, Red beat him to it.

"Tá tú go hálainn," (You are beautiful," Red said as he stared up at her. Prince's eyes shot right to him. She had nearly forgotten that he could speak Gaelic. But of course he could. His mother was Irish, and his father Italian, Red didn't just speak Gaelic, but Italian too, of course. She blinked a few times and a very slight blush colored her newly washed face, so it was remotely impossible to see.

"Thank you," Prince responded in English.

Avalanche glanced to his side to take a look at Red. He might often miss things, but he was definitely seeing what was going on in Red's head at that moment, or at least he thought he did and he didn't like it. "Red," he said smiling to his friend. Red turned to him and saw the smile and didn't believe it for a second. "C'mere. Just one second, and we'll be ready to go," Avalanche said with a smile and nod to Prince and Wit.

Prince joined Wit at the base of the stairs, and the two of them watched as the old leaders disappeared to into the kitchen. They were rather confused at what was going on. But then again, so was Avalanche.

The old Queens leader turned around once in the kitchen and gave a look to Red showing he wanted an explanation, and now. Red held up his hands in surrender. "I should have told you why I left," Red said quietly.

"Why'd ya leave Collin?" Avalanche's voice was quiet, and remotely calm, but full of intensity.

"'Cause of her."

"Prince?" he asked in a rather shocked tone. If it was possible for Avalanche to be more confused, he now was.

"I thought… I mean. I was sure that it was some small crush, and nothin' else," he explained quietly. "I thought if I went away, so would… the idea of wanting to be with her. So after the pneumonia let up I moved away and got better. And for a while, yeah, maybe the feelings did go away, but they didn't stay away. And when you brought me home, and I saw her… She's grown so much Alex," Red said using Avalanche's real name. "She may not want me, she may not want anything to do with me," he said shaking his head. "But…" he exhaled slowly and shook his head again. He just wanted to try. And if Prince gave him half a shot, he would prove to her that not only was he the man she remembered, but he could be the man to protect her for as long as she would like.

Avalanche was very quiet for a very long time as he thought about this. His mind whirled with what Red had just explained to him. At first he was nothing but angry at his elder friend. Who was he kidding, he and Red were practically brothers, the things they told each other, and the secrets they confided. But it didn't make up for the fact that Red had picked the worse possible reason to leave New York. To run away from feelings of love? It was weird , the thought of Red loving Prince. Other reasons, other feelings, Avalanche could understand, but as he slowly looked at the red head he thought that perhaps these feelings weren't far off either. Perhaps Red had run away for fear of revealing Prince's secret, or fear of her not wanting him. Perhaps Red had only been scared, or worried, or concerned for her this whole time. Alex's features softened.

"You listen to me," he said as he took a few steps towards Red. "Don't you dare doing anything that's going to get her in any trouble, got it?" The two of them had worked so hard to keep her secret all these years, they didn't need her getting found out now. "Careful what you say around her, remember, she doesn't know that I told you where she came from, or who she is." It was true, Red had long since known about Mary's true identity. Avalanche had shared all that information one night, be it purposefully or accidentally, over a bottle of whiskey when he had visited Red. "And if she's going out like that, then by God, we had better protect her as though our own lives depended on it, because hers might."

Avalanche didn't dare put Prince's life on the line ever. He had devoted his life in New York to protecting her, because she had asked him to. Red had been an essential part of that. How often had Red lead the Warden through Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, away from her and away from Queens so that she could live a safe life, and she had absolutely no idea? And he'd done all of it for her. Prince was something that both of them cared about far beyond what the other probably realized, but in very different ways. Neither of them wanted to see her sad, or worse.

"Okay," was all Red could say. He smiled a little at Avalanche. "Thanks."

"Yeah well…" Avalanche said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Just don't go pickin' out curtains or anythin'." The two boys turned around and headed out of the kitchen.

"Okay!" Avalanche said. "Let's get this show on the road!"

Red walked over to Prince and put an arm around her shoulders. He leaned down and whispered in her ear. She looked at him a little and then to Avalanche. No one but her knew what Red said, including Avalanche so he just waited to see what she'd say.

"Shall we?" she said as she started towards the door.

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A/N: There ya go! As if I have to remind you, we'll be back with the next chapter come Monday! Have a great weekend, and I really hope you're enjoying the story this far!


	9. 09 Ask My Father

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 9: Ask My Father

Summary: At the turn of the century, New York City is a busy town. Sometimes the important things get lost in the madness. As life goes on in the sweatshops and the child labor many people start to forget about friends, love, and family, but sometimes reminders are all too painful.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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At this point in the story, it would be ideal and lovely to tell the reader that the evening went off without a hitch, positively nothing interesting happened, and everyone came home in the state that they had left. That, unfortunately, is not the case, so for further points of interest, on the evening out that the four young people spent together, the story shall continue at the point that they arrive at the Queens dancing hall.

And what a sight the hall was to behold. It was quite different from Irving Hall, but not entirely, and it was obviously set up for the evening at hand. Any and all tables and chairs were pushed to the side of the dance floor which was directly in front of a small stage. The band, rather than being down under the stage, where the orchestra was usually housed, was up on the stage and was comprised of many modern instruments of every size, shape, description and country of origin. It seemed as though the music that would be played would be traditional, yet still would take into account all countries of residence from Ireland, to Russia, and all the way to America.

The walls of the hall were all a deep red that gave the feeling of being in a room coated with velvet, and the floor had been shined and polished and it was smooth as the silken dresses the ladies wore. In all honesty the room felt as though you were diving into a mound of fabric, and every surface had a distinctly different texture from the last. Red and Avalanche had seen it all before a million times over. Wit and Prince however were stunned with the minor detail and the delicate beauty of the place. Irving Hall was nice, but this place being smaller and more intimate just made it easier to notice the finer points of the architecture, and the sound.

The sound of the place is what made Prince's eyes light up. A piano, like the one that her mother had played, was ringing loud and clear in the hall, playing a type of music she wasn't all too familiar with, but was already starting to like. Prince didn't know it, but it was Ragtime, and it was just beginning to get popular. However, it was difficult to hear. For anyone not dancing to it, in a rather disorganized manner, was laughing drinking and talking very loudly. Prince hadn't seen a place so lively in her life and so full of happiness in quite a long time.

Avalanche tossed a glance to Red who seemed to motion for him to go on ahead with just a very slight tilt to the head. So, the younger of the two boys moved forward and leaned over to Prince, "May I?" he asked as he offered her his arm.

Prince was so shocked at her snap back to reality she practically jumped. She laughed a little, finding it difficult to do that on a natural pitch, rather than that in the lower boyish tone she was accustomed to, and accepted his arm as the four of them headed into the dance hall. Avalanche spotted an empty table near the back of the room where no doubt Prince would be safe, and they'd be far enough away from the main stream of people, but close enough to see dancing and hear music. It was kind of a secluded table, so no one else was interested in it.

She had to admit she felt a little out of her own skin. She didn't know how to act, for she wasn't sure what she had become. Attempting to behave somewhere between a lower class boy and an upper class girl was a lot more difficult than she had been expecting. She started by sitting rigidly in the chair, Red observed. He frowned upon it a little. It looked like she was back trying to be something she wasn't. He leaned over and whispered to her, "relax Prince…"

She looked at him sideways and smiled a little she let her shoulders sag as though she was sitting in a chair at the lodging house and leaned back against the back of the chair. The lower half of her body was confused as to what to do, so she just kept her knees together, like she had been taught was proper in a dress, and hoped that would be acceptable. Avalanche meanwhile pulled up a chair beside Prince and Red on the other side of Avalanche.

"Where'd Wit go?" Prince said suddenly realizing the fourth member of their crew had been lost.

Avalanche chuckled at her alarm and pointed towards the dance floor where he'd already found a smart young thing to dance with and the two of them were waltzing like the pros to a piece that had just started. It was something a little more classical, and this time was accompanied by a violin player.

Prince leaned back in her chair and shook her head at how on edge she was. She needed to listen to Red. Relax… easier said than done.

Red kept an eye on Prince for the time being and an eye on the door. The last thing he wanted was for something to happen while they weren't looking, so he was going to be playing it extra careful tonight. He believed she deserved it after all. After years of being cooped up and playing pretend, she must have been more than ready to put on that dress or she never would have done it. She must have missed being a girl more than anyone had really realized.

Avalanche tossed a glance at his red headed comrade before standing again and walking over to Prince. "C'mon, time to loosen up," he said as he offered her a hand.

"…what?" Prince wasn't getting the hint.

"Come dance!"

"Oh," she said as she started to reach for his hand. "No," she said suddenly and pulled back.

"What?" Avalanche said looking at her, "and why not?"

"It's ok, I'm really fine right here."

"Liar," he said as he grabbed her hand not giving her a choice and pulled her up out of her chair.

"Avie!"

"Come on girly!" he said. He wasn't sure what to call her… couldn't call her Prince, couldn't call her Mary Ann, didn't dare call her Princess, this was going to be tricky.

"No," she said trying to take her hand back.

Red, watching the scene with a smile on his face, just stood up and pushed her forward. "Go on Mavourneen," he said quietly to her. "It'll be fun."

"Huh?" Prince looked at him over her shoulder. Had he just called her darling in Gaelic?

It was just a split second long enough for Avalanche to catch her with her guard down and for Red's Mavourneen to be pulled out onto the dance floor, whether she liked it or not.

Avalanche grabbed hold of her and Prince snapped into dancing position as if she had done this yesterday. He sighed, "Girly relax…"

"I'm trying Ave… Alex," she said. "I dunno how… you know the last time I danced… I did it all proper and this… this ain't that kinda music."

"Look," he said as he took his hand that was holding hers and tried to shake her arm. She was so rigid her entire body moved. The girl was beyond tense. "Ya gotta loosen up kiddo! C'mon," he said trying to get her to relax, but before she could the song was over, and another rag time song started.

"Let's go sit down, yeah?" she said as she turned to leave him, but he didn't let her go.

"You ain't getting' outta this that easily! If this kinda music don't make ya relax, I dunno what will," he said. "You follow, I lead, you can do that at least, right?"

"I think so?"

"Good!" And with that Avalanche took off dancing with her in a crazy waltzy rag time style, and all she could do was follow. The music allowed for no rigidity, she had to calm down and let her muscles go loose if she wanted to be able to keep up, so she did just that.

And as she did she started to smile, and she started to forget what was happening, and she started to have fun, and suddenly, she didn't care what happened that night. She was having fun, and there was nothing wrong with it!

It wasn't until two or three songs later that Alex and Prince returned to the table and both of them sat down needing a glass of water at least. Red, the entire time had been playing look out for anyone who looked cruel, an enemy, a bull, or a threat. He hadn't minded, because between looking at the door he would look over at Avalanche and Prince on the dance floor, and he found that it was very difficult to get the smile off his face. And soon Wit came and joined them.

"Hey!" he said. "Why aren't you guys dancing? This is great music! C'mon!" And before Prince had a chance to say anything her second in command yanked her off of the chair, easier than Avalanche and Red had (of course, this time she was more willing to go) and had pulled her out onto the dance floor once more.

Wit kept her attention for an entire Rag while the boys at the table talked. "How she doin'?" Red asked.

Avalanche looked at her with a proud and soft smile. "She's having more fun than I think I've seen her had since the first day I took her sellin'…" he said as he looked at his little girl. Red laughed out loud at that one as his eyes stayed fixed on her as well. "Hey, Red," Avalanche said, "I mighta… been a little harsh earlier," he said looking at his friend. "Truth be told…" and this might be a little hard for him to admit, because it meant Prince was getting old, and so was he, "I dun think Prince'd be safer anywhere else than she would be if she was with you."

Red looked at his brother and the smile on his face softened a little. "Thanks," he said quietly. It meant more than Avalanche would know that he had said that. The song died down and Red stood up. "Be back, keep an eye out for trouble?" he said. He made his way out to the dance floor. "Pardon me Wit good man," he said playing it up just a tad, "may I cut in?"

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, I guess," he said as he took a step back from Prince, and then was off to locate another young girl. Who knew Wit was such a charmer?

Red stepped in front of Prince and bowed a little before offering a hand to her. "May I?"

Prince couldn't help but giggle a little. He was being so formal, and it was making her laugh. "But of course," she said giving it right back to him, and then accepting his hand. There was a simple waltz playing right now, so neither of them really had to think about the dance that they both knew automatically.

"Tell me Mavourneen," there was that name again, why did Red keep calling her darling? "Are you having fun?"

She smiled and nodded her head. "Yeah," she said quietly. "Yeah I am… this is more fun than I thought it could be."

"Good," he said as he looked down at her and the two of them sort of got lost in their waltz step. "Ya know," he said, "we could probably work this out so that we could do it… every weekend or so."

She looked at him and squinted a little. "And why would you wanna go out dancin' with me every weekend?" she said with a sly smirk on her face. "Red, you wanna court me or somethin'?" she teased him.

Red only chuckled. If she only knew. "Maybe," he said pretending to tease her back.

She laughed a little harder, which was no longer very difficult at all. "Well maybe, only if you ask my father first," she said giggling.

Red laughed as well. He'd practically already done that. "Well… then we'll hafta see won't we?" he said with a smile.

For a moment there was a silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable for either of them. They were simply happy and comfortable where they were, and probably enjoying it more than the other realized, and still for different reasons.

"Mavourneen" he said after a moment. There it was again! "I know ya scared ta go out like this," but he didn't say why, "but trust me, so long as you're with me, I'll keep ya safe."

Prince looked at him with a smile and the longer she looked at him the more the smile faded. There was a look in his eyes, an expression on his face that she hadn't seen before. And if she had, he'd never looked at her when he had it. "Red," she said quietly, "what do you mean?"

"I mean," he said, before he swallowed looking for just the right words to say, "I wanna protect you," he said quietly to her. "And more than just keepin' an eye out for ya… I mean I wanna keep ya safe, in any way possible. If you'll let me."

Prince's breath caught inaudibly in her throat. She blinked furiously as her mind tried to process the information. Was Red really saying what she thought he was saying? It was all far too strange, all far too silly! And yet. When she looked up into his bright green eyes she could tell he meant every word. There was something there that she had never seen, and he was asking her if it was alright. He wasn't telling her he was going to be protecting her, he was asking for her permission to look out especially for her.

Suddenly Prince felt her face get hot. She was blushing. She didn't even know she knew how to blush. It was such an odd feeling having someone wanting to protect you the way he was speaking of doing. And something she'd never considered, and something she'd never let anyone do. But after a moment, which was really the rest of the song, she breathed in and nodded her head. She would allow it, but it was clear to see that she wasn't going to be going off to the races with this any time soon.

Red, mean while was overjoyed at her response, though hid it very well. Rather than gathering her up in his arms as he desired and kissing her on the dance floor he only smiled at her. "Good," he said quietly. He knew better than to scare her like that. And he knew what to do. She would go slow, very slow. It had taken them so many years just to build up trust to this point, and he was not going to ruin that any time soon.

"But," she said, which caused Red's celebrating mind to freeze for a moment, "you gotta promise that you ain't gonna go runnin' off again."

That was all? That was her only request? He had to stay in New York City? Well, he was pretty sure he could handle that. "Of course," he said and he leaned down to whisper in her ear and give her a hug at the same time. "I promise."

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At this point in the story, it would be ideal and lovely to tell you that the rest of the evening went off without a hitch, positively nothing interesting happened, and everyone came home in a slightly elated state. Thankfully, that is precisely what occurred.

The four youth returned that night to the Queens lodging house. Prince would have none of the two boys walking all the way back to Brooklyn at such an hour. It wasn't safe, and all of them knew it.

She quietly opened the door to the lodging house and stepped inside. After her was Wit who instantly walked over to a chair and flopped down to take off his shoes. His feet were killing him. He hadn't sat down the entire time they were there. Red and Avalanche entered after this and Prince closed the door behind them.

The two boys made their way into the living room where Avalanche worked his way over to Prince's large arm chair. "Good night huh?" he asked looking at the young leader.

"Yeah," she said quietly. "Good night. I'll get you some blankets." She dashed up the stairs quickly and quietly and picked up a couple of blankets from the chest that housed the extras in the bunk room. On her way back down she passed Wit going up. He only waved to her good night. He was too tired to do much else. Prince just smiled.

By the time she reached the bottom of the stairs Avalanche had already passed out in the chair. She'd only been gone a minute. She rolled her eyes and opened up the blanket and spread it over him. The boy could sleep anywhere.

Red, in the mean time was standing over by a window and gazing out into the moonlit street. Prince saw him and sat the blanket down on the couch for him. "Good night," she called to him.

He turned around, his silhouette framed by the window. She couldn't see it, but he was smiling. He walked over to the couch. "Did I tell you, you look pretty?"

Prince rolled her eyes, her best defense against such compliments. "Only in two different languages now, thanks," she said quietly. "Hush up yeah? Don't wake Avie."

"Snowball's dead," he said shaking his head. "That guy won't wake up for days if we let him lie."

Prince didn't believe it, she knew him better than that. With any luck, Avalanche would be waking her up tomorrow. So she just shook her head and smiled.

Red smiled along with her. "Sleep well leader," he said. He leaned down and put a soft kiss on her cheek, as though it was as natural as the sun rise. "Good night."

Prince was a bit beyond shocked at the move. She didn't know whether to slap him, kiss him back or giggle like a little girl. So many parts of her flared up all at once that she could only say, "Good night," quietly and then turn away. Red had known the risk he'd taken in doing that, but it appeared that it had been worth it. He smiled to himself and lay down on the couch. He was asleep before Prince was up the stairs.

She was still a little shocked in her mind at the whole evening, let alone what had just happened! As she reached the top of the stairs in the bunk room she saw Wit passed out, still fully clothed in the bed next to hers. She started to get undressed and slowly remembered what she had to do tomorrow. She didn't want to put the chest corset back on, she didn't want to go out, deepen her voice and hawk a headline. She would have been much happier waking up, making breakfast, seeing the boys off, and then spending the day at home. But that wasn't an option. That wasn't who she was, and that wasn't who she was meant to be. Not at that moment in time anyway.

Her eyes moved to Jem who was asleep in the bunk above Wit's. He was her reason to get up tomorrow and continue being what she was. If nothing else, she had to protect this little boy. From what, she didn't know, but she felt obligated to him. She wondered if Avalanche had ever done this while she'd been asleep. Caught a look of her in bed and thought, 'I have to keep her safe.' She hoped that she had never put that much pressure on anyone; after all, it was her own fault. It was her idea to run away. She'd gotten herself into this mess, and she was going to have to get herself out.

Of course, if Red was going to be spending any amount of time with her, he'd have to start being more careful too. She probably owed him an explanation. Maybe next weekend, if he really meant what he had said about going out again and protecting her, she would explain herself, who she really was, and who she was related to, even if it made Red hate her for all the trouble she caused. She felt he needed to know.

Night shirt securely around her frame, and a loose corset dangling off her chest, Prince slipped herself into bed. She laid there for a moment. She had enough time to think, 'I wonder what a real kiss feels like…' before she was sound asleep.

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A/N: First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed up to this point! It's so great to know I have people following along! At this point I'm so excited, I'm offering you a choice! If you read this chapter, drop me a review in the next... let's say 14 hours. That means at 7:00 eastern, 6:00 central time if I have received what I think is 'enough' reviews I'll post the next chapter early, and then of course, the next chapter will come after that, right on schedule, as promised. It's your call, and I probably won't do this again. So, hope you read it... time starts now! Let's hear it!


	10. 10 Lucky

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 10: Lucky

Summary: At the turn of the century, New York City is a busy town. Sometimes the important things get lost in the madness. As life goes on in the sweatshops and the child labor many people start to forget about friends, love, and family, but sometimes reminders are all too painful.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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Life continued, basically, as normal. As normal as life could be for a young girl pretending to be a boy all day long, and yet donned her dress on the weekends to go out and enjoy some time with some of her favorite male friends. They visited the Queens hall on a weekly basis, and enjoyed every second of it while they were there. Occasionally Wit would stay home, occasionally Rylet would come along, occasionally they wouldn't go and would play poker instead. But, for the most part Prince, Avalanche, and Red would go out, every weekend, and truly enjoy each others company, and themselves. Of course after a while they started to be recognized, and made some very casual friends. However, Prince would always turn down an invitation to dance, unless it was from Red or Avalanche, she had no desire to dance with anyone else, and while Red would only dance with Prince, Avalanche on occasion would find another girl to escort on the dance floor. Whenever they were asked how they all knew each other, they all gave the same answer: they were family.

The weeks went on and slowly but surely summer started coming up quickly again. Prince never got a new dress, she just wore the same one over and over. It reached June, and things had been progressing nicely. Prince was able to be herself a little more out in public, and the slight friends that that had managed to make over the course of weeks were understanding of her only wanting to dance with Red, and Red with her. Though they claimed they were family, no one believed them when Prince and Red said they were related. Not with the way he was always calling her Mavourneen. No one believed them, surely there was something there.

It was a lovely night in mid June as the three of them were out about the town again. This evening they were joined by Rylet, but Wit had stayed home for the evening, claiming he was a bit too tired. Plus, he said he hadn't been feeling well lately, and didn't want to get a cold, or worse, so he was going to sleep it off.

Red, Prince, and Rylet were all taking a break from dancing. Prince had learned to love Ragtime music, and could now hum and tap her feet along to the songs as natural as though she was playing them herself. And she wished she could.

Rylet had been dancing with other girls all evening, and charming them as was his custom, though he never seemed to go much beyond that. He'd glance over at Prince every so often, which had not gone unnoticed by Red, but it had by Prince. However, at the same time, Rylet wasn't making any moves, so Red wasn't concerned. But he'd be keeping an eye out.

After a few moments a song came on that Prince recognized. She smiled and her eyes lit up. "C'mon Red!" she said as she stood, grabbed his hand and was now dragging him to the dance floor. She'd come a long way since spring. Avalanche and Red were proud of her.

Though Prince was in a particularly good mood tonight, but no one knew why. Perhaps she'd just had a good day, but who knew really. She was relaxing on the dance floor more than usual and smiling a lot, especially at Red.

"So," he said after a moment of dancing, "what's got you all smiles tonight?"

She shrugged. "I… I dunno… I just… been havin' such a great time comin' to these things…" she didn't like it very much when she had to go back to being a boy for the week, but she always did it none the less. She couldn't play dress up all the time after all.

"That's all?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, that's all."

As he looked down at her he couldn't help but stare a little. When she was smiling, her hair down, a little feminine, and enjoying herself, she was the prettiest girl in the room to him, and to hell with the others. Avalanche could say and do and think what he liked about Prince, but Red believed she was beautiful. Though Prince was still having issues with these said complements, she was improving.

"What?" she said as she looked back up into his eyes that were gazing down at her.

"Nothin," he said and shook his head. "You're just… I'm just lucky is all."

"Lucky? Why?" she asked.

"Because I get to dance with the prettiest girl in the place."

Prince blushed. And Red was always proud when he could make her blush, it meant he'd said something right. At these compliments, Prince had given up protesting. No matter how much she would say 'no' or 'you're mistaken' or even 'hey… good one,' she would always lose the battle. So she took to accepting them, but it was still difficult to get them to sink in.

As she was following Red around the dance floor, eyes transfixed on his she suddenly heard a whistle blow. She turned around suddenly, and her worst nightmares came true. There, standing not 20 feet from her was Warden Nigel Snyder, and at least 5 police men. The Warden wasn't looking directly at her, but he was there.

She instantly ducked behind Red and he shielded her from her pursuer. She knew she should have never agreed to these nights out! It had all been a huge mistake. She couldn't attempt to hide forever, and dressed as a girl, she was doomed.

As for Red he was furious. Why was the Warden even in Queens? And whose job was it to lead him elsewhere? Oh that's right… his. But someone else was gonna beat him to it.

The entire crowd gazed at the Warden, and then saw a flash of a human being whip by and steal the Warden's hat right off of his head. "Good evening sir Warden!" Avalanche announced as he jumped up onto a table.

The Warden glared up at Avalanche. "Get down boy, I need to talk to you."

"I'm afraid," he said as he put the hat on his head, "that I cannot do that sir," Avlanche did his best Charlie Chaplin impression, making the crowd around him laugh. Before he jumped off the table and bounded for the stage, quick as a flash. Avalanche had always been fast, but he was setting speed records that night.

Two of the policemen left the Warden's side and ran after him. Avalanche hadn't been expecting that, so he was now on the run. Great.

While all this had been happening Red had lead Prince over to an exit with Rylet. "Get her outta here!" Red hissed to Rylet, who quickly obeyed, grabbed Prince's wrist and headed for the back door.

Red, at this point, walked over to the Warden. "Excuse me sir," he said as he folded his arms, "I do believe you're interrupting our good time. Would you mind leaving?"

The Warden stared at Red for a moment before he smiled wickedly and said, "Red…" of course the Warden knew his name. You just couldn't help but hear it as people would say it to him as they were running and cheering him on. He'd caught it in passing, one way or another.

Red nodded a little and bowed even a bit. "Good evening good sir! Now… get out," he said and smiled before he turned away from the Warden and called to Avalanche "C'mon! Let's get outta here!" he said.

"Arrest them," the Warden said. Avalanche looked over at the Warden, and then redoubled his efforts to get away, now officially resisting arrest. Red, in the mean time turned to run out the way that Prince had gone, the only other exit in the joint except for the main entrance. The three police men chased him as the Warden headed back outside to his horse.

Once outside Red sprinted down the street until he heard his name being called. He ran towards it to find Prince and Rylet hiding in an alley. "What are ya doin'? Run!" he said

Prince had been sure that if she had just hidden herself instead of runaway they'd go on a wild goose chase away from the lodging house and she'd be just fine. She was sure of this.

"Now!" Red told them again as he took off down the street. He wanted to stay and help her, but he'd have to trust Rylet for now, he had no other choice. He needed to lead the police away from her, and if they were focused on him then they wouldn't notice the children crouched in the alley.

However, Avalanche had the same thought Prince had and ducked into the alley from the other direction. As he came around the corner he came up to her, not wanting to scare her, tapper her on the shoulder so she would turn and look at him. He looked at her. "Girly this ain't good… they're tryin' ta arrest me and Red," he said glancing over his shoulder.

Prince's blood ran cold. Arrest them? No. Avalanche and Red had just gotten back to the city! They couldn't be arrested now. They couldn't be arrested because of her. "Why?" she said looking up at Avlanche fiercely.

He shrugged his shoulders. After all, what had they done, except maybe be a little rude.

"There he is!"

"Run!" Avalanche called and Prince and Rylet took off as Avalanche stood his ground in the alley way. But as he held his position only one stayed while the other went after Prince and Rylet.

She looked over her shoulder and saw the man coming after her, and then a horse about a block behind him, sporting an all too familiar figure on the back of it. She had to run, she had to fight, she had to get away!

But, what would become of them all if she did? The wheels in her mind began to turn as she processed the situation. What if she made it back to the lodging house and hid successfully? Prince didn't want to admit it, but the Warden had her cornered. He was attacking the two men she cared about more than anything, and she would do anything to get them to go free... anything.

"Rylet go!" Prince said as she sent Rylet away.

"What do you mean?" he said as he stopped standing next to her. "Not without you I ain't!"

She shook her head. "You gotta go, you don't understand, just go, I'll handle this," she promised him.

Rylet's eyes were wide as he couldn't decide what to do, and instead decided to hold his ground. As he did the policeman caught up to them and grabbed a hold of Rylet, much to Prince's surprise, but left her alone. Then again, it wasn't all that surprising considering the next voice she heard.

"Mary Ann…" The Warden got off of his horse as Mary's back was turned. She turned to face him, eyes stone cold, emotionless, strong, and she appeared poised to kill. "You're coming home this instant."

She shook her head no. "I refuse."

"You don't have that choice."

"I think I do," she said. Avalanche was still back in the alley way, and slowly walking towards Prince, a look of shock and alarm on his face.

The Warden glared. "How dare you speak that way to your father?"

"What? Not like it's hard," she said with a shrug. "I just do it." She was being extremely bold for the daughter of the man before her, and speaking the way she was. If there hadn't been so many people around, she would have gotten herself slapped in this day and age. But what did she care? She'd gotten worse from the Brooklyn kids.

Red rounded the corner of a back alley and froze on the spot at what he saw. He couldn't move, could barely breathe as he saw Prince standing face to face with the Warden. She was doomed, he was doomed, they were all doomed. He wanted to call out to her, but what to call out? "Mavourneen," he said. He didn't say it that loud, not that loud at all. It was almost in a normal tone of voice and as she heard it her eyes lost some determination and started to be replaced with sadness, for she knew her only way out of this.

"Let them go," she demanded. "Let them all go free, clean records, all of 'em, and I don't wanna hear of you chasin' them again."

The Warden's eyes looked at her, attempting to read what she was figuring in that head of hers. Prince knew what he was going to ask. Her eyes faltered a little and she looked down towards the ground as she nodded a little. Everyone watching knew exactly what that motion meant.

"Mavourneen!" Red called as he was about to run down the alley way towards her. He couldn't let her go, he wouldn't let her go. However, as he took a step, the policemen caught up with him and grabbed hold of him, then another, then another. It took all three of them to hold him back.

The Warden turned and saw the policemen holding Red. He glanced at the other two who where keeping Avalanche and Rylet in a secure position. All at once he nodded and all at once the three boys were set free. And all at once they ran at her.

Rylet reached her first and grabbed her hand, ready to go again, but Prince's feet were planted to the ground. She wasn't going anywhere. She had just sold her soul to the devil so that these three boys could keep living their lives, and they all knew it.

Avalanche reached her next. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders from behind and held onto her tightly. He leaned down, "I'm not letting you go," he whispered in her ear. His eyes were on fire with hatred for the Warden as his heart burned for the girl that had become his family.

Red reached the scene and took a full step between Prince and the Warden. It was quite the picture, and nothing that the Warden had seen before. Standing before him was a man willing to sacrifice everything for a girl who was currently being sheltered by another boy, and holding the hand of yet another. All three men stared at the warden in utter disgust. It seemed as though they were prepared in a moment to initiate some intricate maneuver that had been practiced time and time again. All the while, Prince's eyes were hauntingly vacant, staring towards the ground.

The first thing she did was remove her hand from Rylet's, which caused him to look at the young leader. "Prince?" he said quietly and shook his head.

Next thing she did was take her hands and reach up to Avalanche's. She tugged on them gently and he looked at her and released her. "Girly listen," he said as he faced her full front and grabbed her by the shoulders. "You dun gotta do this… we can fix this," he promised her.

"I'm counting on it," she said quietly. Alex stared at her in confusion, but all the same Prince turned, she had one more goodbye to say.

She stepped beside Red, so he was no longer between her and her father. "Red," she said quietly. "You gotta let me go."

"No." And that was his only answer. The tone in his voice told her there would be no argument, and his gaze was not broken from the face of the Warden.

"Yes," she said gently. "You have to."

"No!" he said sterner this time and glancing at her quickly before returning the eyes forward. She started to walk away and Red grabbed her by the wrist and refused to let go. "I'm not letting you go!" he commanded her, in the most caring way possible.

Avalanche took a step forward and put a hand on Red's shoulder. "Let her go," he asked quietly. "You have to," he told Red.

"No, I ain't never lettin' her go." He had made a promise to protect her and he would do just that! He had promised. He was not going back on it now.

Avalanche sighed. He had to get Red to let go… so he did the only thing he could think to do. He came around to the front of him. "Sorry," he said quietly before he balled his hand into a fist and punched one of his best friends square in the stomach.

It hurt, it hurt quite a bit, but Red didn't move, his hand still gripping Prince's wrist. He did grunt at the sudden shock of what had just happened. Red was always too stubborn, something he and Prince had in common, except it was even more prominent in the elder Irishman. The Warden simply stood there watching it all. If he didn't let her go he'd have Red arrested, so it didn't matter to him really what they did. But he would honor his word, if his daughter came with him, he would clean their records, and they'd be free men.

When Red didn't budge Avalanche shook his head. "Don't make me do this."

Red looked at Avalanche. "If you think this is the right decision… then I'd like to see you try." Red didn't believe that Avalanche knew what he was talking about, or doing, or that a plan had already begun to form itself in the old Queens leader's brain.

"Let her go!"

"No!"

Red was sent reeling as Avalanche landed a punch square on his jaw, and muscle reflexes caused him to release Prince's hand, and then it only took a moment for the Warden to leap back up onto his horse, and assist his daughter in joining him. By the time Red recovered and charged at the horse, the Rylet and Avalanche were ready to stop him.

There had never been a more sorrowful set of eyes as Prince's were at that very moment. She was being condemned to hell, after running away for so many years. She gazed at Rylet hoping he'd help take care of the boys, and Avalanche, praying to God that he understood what she was thinking, which he usually did, and then to Red who had so much fight and drive to keep her safe that he was determined to get her off of that horse. She wished he hadn't been hurt. She wished she hadn't been the one to have to break his heart, and Avalanche hadn't been the one who had to break his grasp on her.

"Mavourneen!" he called again as he darted forwards at her. It was all he called her anymore. As he ran forward Avalanche caught him and held him back best he could, but it took the rest of the policeman around, and Rylet to help. "Mary! Mary Ann!"

She hung her head as the Warden turned the horse and started back down the street. She breathed deeply and sighed.

The Warden was satisfied; he got his property back, and he had big plans for her, in more ways than one.

As the horse started to pick up speed towards the Queens police station Prince could hear Red calling for her over and over again by name. She finally turned around to look at him, and when she did he stopped. He looked at her face, and it broke his heart to see her so sad. At that second, he understood that this fight was far from over. They were going to win this, they were taking the Warden down, and Red was going to get her back. The Warden had no idea what he had done. He had unleashed Brooklyn's fury upon himself, not to mention the entirety of Queens. This was far from over. These three boys would see to that.

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A/N: I didn't hear from anyone after Monday, so I got this one up as quickly as I could once it came back to Thursday. I hope all of you who are following along are enjoying the ride! Coming up on Monday is the 4th of July. And I won't keep you in suspense as to what happens next any longer than absolutely necessary. See you on Monday!


	11. 11 Crash

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 11: Crash

Summary: At the turn of the century, New York City is a busy town. Sometimes the important things get lost in the madness. As life goes on in the sweatshops and the child labor many people start to forget about friends, love, and family, but sometimes reminders are all too painful.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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After so many years of an inconsistent schedule, Millie, Julia, and Adam never really knew when to expect Mr. Snyder to come home. He usually did once a week if just to repack his bags, get a good meal and then head off again. They often wondered if they even had jobs anymore, he'd be gone for so long. And what was the point of hiring servants, if you were never home? However, due to the high class that he was, if he didn't have hired hands, his friends would think less of him. Still, they had possibly one of the easiest manual labor jobs in New York. They kept the house clean, Julia would bake things, Adam groomed the horses, and Millie would practice piano. They all found sufficient things to do and their lives were fairly uneventful for the most part. But this night was going to be different.

Nigel walked in the door first, flinging it open without regard, concern, interest or care for the door, or anyone who may be standing in front of it. Millie just happened to be practicing piano in the parlor at that time. Julia was cleaning up from dinner, and Adam was upstairs polishing some silver. However, all of them heard the front door slam into the wall as it opened.

The young girl followed her father into the house, a look of anger on her face. She was obviously in no mood to be in this house.

Once she was inside Mr. Snyder turned around and slammed the door. Everyone one in the house came running towards the living room to greet him, but as they all reached their perspective doorways each one froze as they stared at the young girl they hadn't seen in years. None of them moved.

"How dare you?" Nigel said as he came to face his daughter from the front. "How dare you run away? How dare you speak to me the way you did this evening?" He raised his hand and slapped her right across the face causing her to jerk to the side out of force.

Millie instantly started forward to shield the younger girl, but stopped when she saw the look on the Warden's daughter's face. Millie wasn't going anywhere near her for fear of her own life.

Prince balled up her fist and punched her father right back, and why shouldn't she? Hadn't he been the one to chase her mother away? Hadn't he been the one to throw the first punch? Hadn't he been the one to force her into a life where she learned to live and love those around her, and then forced her back out of it again and back into her own torturous personal hell? She wanted to do more than punch her father, she wanted to kill him.

Julia gasped as the punch connected with his face and instantly went back into the kitchen to get a steak to put on the bruise that was bound to form on the Warden's face.

Slowly the Warden turned to look at the girl in shock. Prince may be young, defiant, and strong, but her father had a lot more going for him where the law, rules, and other such legal matters came in. She may not have made the best decision in deciding to attack at that moment.

"You girl," he said quietly, "are doomed." He grabbed her by the wrist and held on tightly. She couldn't get her hand free, no matter how hard she tried, no matter what she did. His grip was too strong and his hand too large for her to get loose.

He pulled her towards a door that led down into the cellar where the wine was kept. Right through the door was a flight of stairs. He flung the door open, stepped back, and with a shove, sent the girl down the stairs, off balance, tumbling end over end, causing her to hit her head, her arms, her legs, everything until she landed at a heap at the bottom, unconscious.

Julia came back just as the Warden slammed the door and locked it securing her jail cell, and possibly her tomb. There was no telling what she had hit or hurt on her way down those stairs, and if she wasn't helped soon, the consequences could be dire.

The Warden took the steak, stormed towards the front door and was gone once again, back to his job, his work, and somewhere where he could control every child without a single blow.

Once he was gone everyone in the house exchanged glances and then instantly ran for the cellar door.

"Tis locked!" Millie said in frustration. "I canna get it open!" she tried jiggling the handle, but it was no use, and the Warden had taken the key with him.

"I'll handle this one," Adam said as he pulled a lock pick from his pocket. "The locks on the stable doors sometimes jam, and you have to pick them manually," he explained. A house lock was going to be no challenge, simply spin the small piece of metal holding it in place and… click. The lock came loose.

Adam threw open the door and Millie raced down the stairs. "Miss Snyder!" she called as she practically tripped and fell herself, but caught herself at the last second on a hand rail. "Miss Snyder!"

She came down to the young girl still unconscious at the bottom of the stairs. Carefully she rolled Miss Snyder over so she would lie on her back, she was careful not to move anything more than she had to for she might be severely hurt. "Julia, I need smellin' salts please, an' quickly!"

Julia turned from the door and ran into the kitchen to get Millie what she needed. Meanwhile the young house maid tried to wake Miss Snyder by patting her face and shaking her head a little trying to wake her and saying her name over and over again. But she just wasn't coming to.

Julia returned and hurried down the stairs herself, smelling salts in hand. As she reached the bottom she handed them to Millie who threw off the lid and quickly put them under Miss Snyder's nose.

The girl was breathing, she was glad and sure of that, but because of what had happened, she didn't know if that would continue for much longer.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, but was only minutes the young Miss Snyder groaned loudly. That had really hurt, more than any fight she had ever participated in. "My arm," she said wishing to clutch it but not wanting to move for she hurt so badly.

It was Adams turn to run down the stairs now. He didn't want to be in the way, but upon hearing those words, he knew she would need his help. Upon reaching the bottom he knelt down to her. He was about to ask which one hurt, but he didn't have to. It was clear something was quite literally out of place.

"Julia," Adam commanded opening his hand to her, "I need a clean handkerchief."

Julia reached into her pocket. "Fresh as a daisy," she promised, "hasn't been used since it was washed."

Adam opened her mouth as she protested. "What are ya doin'? Adam!" she tried to talk more, but it was all muffled by the handkerchief which she did want to take out, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

Then, suddenly, without warning Adam put his hand onto her shoulder, and pressed down and a pop echoed through the cellar. And she thought she was in pain before! She screamed, quite literally at the top of her lungs, and bit down on the handkerchief as hard as she could. Had it been her lips she would have bitten so hard as to make them bleed.

Millie had tears welling up in her eyes. What an evil man Mr. Snyder was. She was glad to have her young friend home again, but at what cost?

Once the screaming had subsided Adam took the handkerchief out of her mouth."Your arm was dislocated," he explained. "It's not anymore."

"Thanks…" she said using a sarcastic pained tone, but she did mean it. She didn't know what would have happened if it had stayed out of place, but she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"Miss Snyder?" Millie said as she looked over the young girl.

Her eyes hadn't opened yet, until that moment. Slowly the young girl opened her eyes and looked up at her red headed Irish friend. "Heya Millie," she said quietly. "Long time no see." And she even managed a small smile.

"Oy Miss Snyder! Ya scared me worse than a banshee!" She wanted to hug and kiss and attack and cry and laugh all at once, but instead she just sit there giggling like an idiot as tears started to push at her eyes, threatening to roll down her cheeks.

"Miss Snyder-" Julia started to speak and Prince groaned and closed her eyes again.

"Please," she said cutting off her elder. "If ya don't mind… don't call me that. Please… can't we just stick with Mary Ann?" She knew they wouldn't settle for anything less. And them calling her Prince was not going to happen any time soon.

All the servants were a little nervous of showing such disrespect, but they were in no mind to upset the young mistress at this time. "Alright, Mary Ann," Julia said nodding slightly, and the other two agreed, "please miss, what happened?"

Mary sighed. "It's a long story… ya think my father will be home any time soon?"

They all shook their heads and Millie said, "No, probably not 'til tomorrow, if he does come."

"Then is there any way I can lay some where's that's not a cold cellar floor?" she asked. She would accept anything honestly.

Adam smiled and said, "Of course miss, we'll take you upstairs." Even though Prince had grown sufficiently and was probably a little heavier, but not by much, since the last time they saw her, Adam leaned down, gathered her in his arms and started to carry her up the stairs, the other two ladies following.

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Mary Ann explained everything, the entire story from Avalanche through the strike, through Red, through dancing, and finally what had just occurred in the street a few moments ago. Millie and Julia all the while were tending to her bruises, cuts, scrapes and any other things that were causing her pain. But they were trying to keep her awake as best they could, by making her talk and talk and talk until she was hoarse and had to ask for water.

"I must say miss," Millie said when they all sat down, and Mary had finished her story, "I never did think I'd be seein' the likes of you again." Millie smiled and Mary smiled back.

"I missed you folks," she said as she looked up at her old friends. "Sorry I ain't written more or nothin'."

"Tis quite alright, we were always scared to receive letters, should your father find out what was a going on, but he never did…" Millie let her sentence trail off, because it seemed it all had been for not.

Young Mary looked over at her friend and reached out her non throbbing arm and touched Millie's hand. "Hey," she said, "dun look so sad like that huh?" she said forcing a small smile onto her face, "I may be bumped, bruised, and bloody, but I'm alright," she said nodding. "I've learned a lot, spent a lotta time out there," she said looking towards the window. "No house can keep me prisoner."

"Ya can't be leavin' again miss, not now."

"I know," Mary said stopping Millie short. "Believe you me, I know this, probably better than you." If she left now, everyone she cared about would be gone forever. Red would be arrested, and probably Avalanche, her newsies sent to orphanages, or the Refuge, and she'd never see poor little Jem ever again.

"What are ya gonna do, lass?" Millie asked her young mistress.

Mary starred up at her friend and blinked a few times. "I… I ain't sure yet, but it ain't over," she promised. "There's a lot that's gotta happen, b'fore I give up," she swore.

"Do us a favor?" Julia said with a smile, "please don't go punching Mr. Snyder any more. I'm sure it was a lovely feeling, but I'm not sure your poor body could handle another crash like that one."

It was true, Prince was thin, her bones were probably not the strongest thing in her body, and her head still hurt. No, she wouldn't be making any more irrational decisions any time soon. She had let her anger get the best of her.

Still, it had been worth it.

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That night she lay on the couch, within running distance of the cellar door, should her father arrive before tomorrow afternoon and she needed to hurry towards the cellar and hide herself away. She didn't want the staff getting in trouble, or herself either for that matter.

Miss Snyder lay there staring up at her ceiling, tears coming down her cheeks. Jem would be so disappointed that she was gone. Wit would take care of him, and with any luck, he wouldn't cry. They'd tell the boys she was coming back, and just gone for a little while. She hoped they'd lie to all of them, and then they'd never wonder or know where she got off to. But she wasn't sure what they were going to do. She only hoped that those boys, Red, Avalanche, Rylet, and Wit, could put their heads together and solve this problem without her. Though, it didn't appear they exactly had any choice on the matter.

She felt bad for those four, her four closest friends, and they hadn't been able to save her. Wit hadn't been there, he'd feel guilty for days. Rylet didn't think to force her to keep running; he'd never forgive himself if he saw the state she was in now. She felt sorry that Red would be without his mavourneen. She missed him horribly already, and just wished he would appear, wrap his arms around her, lift her up and take her home. She found it odd how much she missed him. He'd only been home a few weeks, but she had always looked forward to the weekends with Red, where he would speak Gaelic to her, tell her ridiculous compliments, and smile down at her. He was probably so angry that he'd been held back from trying to save her right off the bat; she hoped he'd forgive Avalanche, and everyone else. But oh, poor Avalanche. The man who had practically dedicated his life to protecting one person, one girl, and he'd failed. This wouldn't be good for him. Mary didn't know how accurate her thinking was… all of these boys were easily in the state she supposed they were in, and worse.

The young girl used her good arm, her right arm, to prop herself up on the couch, her face still stained with tears, and her eyes red and tired from silent crying, and yet she couldn't sleep. She stood up very slowly and practically limped into the kitchen. She was only bruised and banged up, but every joint in her body ached from bruises. She walked over to the wood block and picked up a knife, a long and very sharp one. She wanted to do this right, she didn't want to make any mistakes, and she didn't want it to take long.

Slowly the young miss walked towards the bathroom in her house and lit the lamp that was sitting in it. The light was just enough to see what she needed to do. Slowly she lifted her hand and grabbed a hold of her hair. She twisted it around as though she were going to put it up into her hat, then raised the knife, and with a mighty slice, cut through all the strands at once. The free hair went slack in her hand and slowly she pulled it down.

She looked at the handful of hair in her hand and cried harder. If it hadn't been for wanting to remember her mother, for longing to have the woman play with her hair again, for holding on to such a stupid childish dream, she never would have been found out in the first place. Her hair was short now, cut to just above her ears, and wasn't cut clean or even, but what did she care? She had no one to look pretty for, no one to impress, and no one who wanted to touch her hair, why keep it? She flung it at the wall where it hit with slight thud and then slid and floated down to the floor.

She left it there. She didn't want to touch it, didn't want to see it ever again. All it was was a painful reminder that she had failed miserably, and she didn't want to be reminded of that. She slowly moved back to the kitchen and replaced the knife in the wood block. Then, slowly and painfully, the young miss moved back out to the couch in the living room and lay back down, tears still coming hard and fast.

When sleep did claim her she had only nightmares of her father, of losing her friends, of Avalanche and Red being taken away and drowning in the East River, horrible awful dreams concerning everyone she loved from her newsies to her friends, to her mother. Not even in sleep, that night, did she stop crying.

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A/N: Due to this update being late, and because I missed the 4th of july holiday for an update, I shall now give you the other chapter I owe you from Thursday. I know they are late, and I apologize. If I'm this late again, please, feel free to remind me!


	12. 12 Out of the Picture

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 12: Out of the Picture

Summary: At the turn of the century, New York City is a busy town. Sometimes the important things get lost in the madness. As life goes on in the sweatshops and the child labor many people start to forget about friends, love, and family, but sometimes reminders are all too painful.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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Avalanche hadn't anticipated himself ever being in this position before, ever. Never, in his wildest dreams, did he imagine that he would be the one holding back Red, while Prince was the one in danger. Let alone with the assistance of five policeman and Rylet, which was useful, for none of them would have been able to do it alone. For once, though it would seem, Avalanche was the one thinking rationally in this situation. Usually that job was reserved for young Prince. However, since she was not in attendance, and for good reason, the duty fell to Avalanche. In all honesty, he didn't have much experience in rational thinking. He sort of lived his life on the fly, and worked his way through problems as they came up. Unfortunately, he hadn't planned on Red being the one causing the problems.

"Mary!" Red called again, and again. He needed to chase after her; he needed to get her off that horse, and into his arms. He wouldn't have her gone forever, not when he could get her back.

"Collin," Avalanche said attempting to calm him down. He kept his tone gentle and understanding. And no matter how hard Red fought, Avalanche wanted to go get Prince more than he did, but he also understood that this had to be handled delicately and correctly. This was now legality, a zone Avalanche knew nothing about. And he was not about to go rushing in where he didn't know what he was doing, despite his haphazard personality.

"No! Alex, what are ya thinkin'? Let's go!"

"Collin, no," he said still trying to hold him back.

"No? What do you mean no?" Red didn't understand where Avalanche was going with this. They needed to get Prince back now!

"Listen to me," Avalanche said getting a little angrier with his elder. Red wouldn't stop struggling long enough to listen so Avalanche had a plan. He released his hold, leaving it to the other six people to hold him for a moment, as if six people couldn't hold him. He took a few steps back, needing a running start, and then ran directly at Red, taking him out at the waist and sending them all to the ground. Rylet and the policemen instantly stood up and prepared to catch Red should he try to scramble up and follow the Warden once more.

"Get offa me!" Red yelled as he fought with Avalanche to get up.

"No, listen!" Avalanche yelled right back. The next part he said very quietly so that Red would be the only one to hear. "He is her father, she is his daughter… if we wanna do this and get her back, we gotta do this right! Let's go home, get a plan together, and then go and get her."

Red continued to struggle for a moment, and then, slowly, what Avalanche said sunk in. He started to think about things like living to fight another day. And unfortunately, it made sense. He slowly calmed down and sighed. Laying on his back in the cold, he raised his hands up to his head. How could he let this happen?

Avalanche stood up slowly and waited for Red before. But right now, there was no speaking to the old Brooklyn leader.

The uniformed men looked to Avalanche, having not heard the things that he had said to Red, the police didn't know what the boys were planning. For what it was worth, neither did the boys. One policeman stepped slightly forward and said, "If ya know what's good for ya, stay away from that girl and the Warden."

Rylet frowned and felt the need to speak up. "Pardon me, but, why did the Warden come here tonight? Did someone tell him to?"

The policeman looked at the boy and didn't perceive him as a threat. "Dunno," he said honestly. "He just said we were going to go catch some kidnappers, and he had a personal interest in the girl. When we asked why, he said that he'd finally found his daughter. He didn't say how." But they had not thought to ask either.

Well that was discouraging. Rylet sighed slightly. He had been hoping for a little bit more than that. "Thanks," he said quietly.

The policeman nodded and then turned to his comrades, gave a nod, and the five started back for the police station, their job done for the time being, and they felt fairly accomplished about it too.

"How…" Red said quietly. "How could this have happened? We worked so hard… for so long… and we lose her when we're both here?" He was ashamed to be quite frank. With his hands covering his face he remembered how he had spent days and weeks in hours running around Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, but never Queens, trying to lead the Warden as far away from the young girl as possible. He had done everything to protect her, and Avalanche had done the same. She would never know it, but she possibly owed her newsie life to the two men. And it had all gone in one night of fun. It just wasn't fair.

"C'mon," Avalanche said as he extended a hand down to Red. "We can't just sit here in the street dwelling on it. Might as well go home and start workin' out what to do."

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It was just as Prince had imagined it. The boys were in an awful state. The first thing Avalanche and Red did was explain Prince's situation to Rylet and Wit. They told them everything. Who she really was, where she was from, and why the Warden was really looking for her. It shocked the two younger boys, but in all seriousness, it made them want to get her back more. If she ran away from that life and didn't want to go back, they would help her, but first they needed a plan. Each of them found some where to be and think for a little bit, as they tried to come up with battle plan.

"I shouldn't have let her stop… I should have forced her to keep running," Rylet said quietly as he hung his head. Rylet was sitting in a chair beside the couch that Wit was lying on, so Wit was the only one who could hear him. "I shouldn't have let her stop…" he seemed to think and say the same things over and over again.

"Rylet?" Wit said trying to get his attention. "It ain't your fault… Prince stopped on her own right? You did all you could… didn't ya?"

Rylet closed his eyes and shook his hanging head. "I should have made her keep going, she'd be safe now if I had…"

Wit could only sigh and close his eyes out of fatigue of the sickness. If only he hadn't been sick, he would have been able to go with them that evening, and he could have helped. He could have helped lead policemen away or been another distraction or something. As it was, here he lay, on the couch of the Queens lodging house, running a fever, and in no state to take over a leadership position. If only he'd been able to go, maybe Prince would be there now. She may have been vowing to never wear a dress again, but at least she would be there.

It took every ounce of courage and strength that Red had not to run out into the street, and all the way to Manhattan to Warden Snyder's house right then and there and kill the man, take his Mary back and never let her go ever again. He held her hat in his hands just staring down at it. One of the most important things to her, and he was the one holding it. The thing that he helped hide her identity for so many years was in his hands. She should have it; she would need it, wouldn't she? She wouldn't feel like Prince without her hat, she'd feel like some little rich girl, and she wouldn't feel like herself. And if she felt like Prince and not like… Miss Snyder, or whatever else she was probably being called, then maybe she'd have the courage to beat down her father and run away again. And Red would go with her, wherever she wanted to go, he'd run all the way to Philadelphia, or Boston, or Virginia, or Moscow if that's where she felt safe and far enough away from her father. Red just wanted her safe and with him. He missed her, and it was at that moment, he realized what he had been feeling all along. He more than cared for young miss Mary Ann, he loved her.

All he could do was send thoughts her way… 'Don't worry mavourneen, we'll come get you soon.' He wrung the hat in his hands as he tried not to be angry at everyone who had held him back from saving her while he had the chance.

Meanwhile, the old Queens leader looked older than ever, and felt older than he ever thought possible. He leaned against the wall of the Queens lodging house, hands in his pockets, hat on his head, and eyes fixated on a street lamp outside the window. He wished Prince was here, this was the stuff she was always good at, puzzles, problems, ideas, plans, Avalanche had always lived life second to second, he wasn't a planner like Prince was. It devastated him that he'd let her slip away like that, but he wouldn't show it for a second. He wasn't good at showing any emotion that wasn't happy or in a good mood, or excited about life. So he stared blankly, eyes unreadable, out the window.

"So…" a young voice said breaking the silence. All four boys' heads snapped over to the small blonde standing at the bottom of the stairs. Jem looked scared as he saw everyone in the lodging house downstairs all upset and quiet. Many of the boys in the bunk room upstairs were wondering where their leader was, since everyone but her had come home. "…where's Prince?" he asked.

Avalanche features softened, and he instantly went back into leader mode. It was second nature. No one else here was going to be able to do it, at least not as quickly as he did. Red had the capability, but the man was Brooklyn, and small children who were used to having a girl around to take care of them may not have been his strong suit. Wit was of course second in command, but the boy had too many questions flying through his own mind at the moment to be able to answer anyone else. So, the duty fell to him. "She's not gonna be around tonight kiddo," he said as he walked towards Jem and crouched down to his level.

"Where is she? When will she be back? We're supposed to sell together tomorrow," he said proudly, obviously excited.

Avalanche smiled and even chuckled a little. The three boys were amazed at the masks that this man could put on like it was nothing. "Prince went on a little trip. But she said, dun worry! She's gonna get ya a present," he promised the child. Avalanche would make it so. "And she'll be back in a few days. That's why I'm here. Wit's sick, so Prince wanted me to be leader for a few days."

"Oh… Okay!" Jem said with a smile. "Then I'll sell with you tomorrow!" he proclaimed as he hugged Avalanche.

"Uh…" Avalanche wasn't sure he could still sell in New York, but with the kid, maybe he could at least keep an eye on him-

"No," Rylet said as he walked over, he also had a surprisingly gentle tone. "You're gonna sell with me, okay?" he asked. It startled everyone that Rylet stepped forward and said such a thing.

Jem looked at Rylet and let Avalanche go. "Oh, okay! Good night!" he waved to them all then ran up the stairs.

Rylet had never really been one for talking much. Prince was one of his greatest friends, and confidants, and so in her absence, he had to think how she would act. He had to forget about his reservations, ignore his timid nature, and try to find the courage that the female leader seemed to hide under her hat and draw from when necessary. Once Jem had gone upstairs, and Rylet heard the door close behind him, he turned to the others. "Wit's too sick to do much," he said as though it weren't obvious, "I manage things around here until he's okay to handle this place again on his own. In the mean time," he said with a little harsher tone, "I want you two to do all you can to get her back here as soon as humanly possible…" he said as his eyes intensely looked from Red to Avalanche. If no one else was going to step up into Prince's role, Rylet would handle things. He usually wasn't a leader, and was usually very quiet, but right now, Avalanche and Red would work day and night to ensure Prince's safety, he knew it. Wit was near useless running a fever, and Queens would be left to the dogs if someone wasn't leading. It had to be him. Rylet reached this decision emotionally however, not like Prince who would have realized it rationally. All the same he felt prepared to take over for now. His bright blue eyes had a certain spark in them that Wit hadn't seen before. It made him sure that Rylet would be able to handle the job.

Avalanche looked down at the dark haired boy and nodded a few times. "You got it kid," he said. He then turned to Red. "We're gonna need some help…"

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"Okay," Avalanche said now standing in a different lodging house and it was now 24 hours later, and they weren't going to let her stay in that house any longer. In the last 24 hours, Avalanche had slept one of them. Red woke him up early that morning so they could walk to Manhattan to take a look at the house before the streets got too busy. The hour he did sleep was restless and could hardly be called sleep. "Red and I went and took a look at the house this morning. This is what we got." Avalanche laid down a crudely drawn sketch of the Snyder household. They weren't the best artists, not to mention they had to sort of draw it out of sight.

"And which window do we want?" Jack asked, rope looped around his shoulder, and cowboy hat, for once, on his head.

"This one," he said pointing one to the right of center. "That should be Prince's room."

"Now, no one's gonna be able to get on the roof," Red said, "But we think we'll swing the rope around this here," he said pointing to a sort of point in the top of the roof, similar to that of a castle tower, pointing up towards the sky. They figured they could loop the rope around it, and create a sort of pulley system. "Then all we gotta do is get her attention, she can come out the window, we'll ease her to the ground, and then get the hell outta there." And that was their brilliant break out plan. Red, was also running on very little sleep, only getting maybe an hour or two himself, so this was the best they had.

"Then I take her back to the Bronx," Ace said with a nod leaning over the table from a kneeling position on a chair, knowing his place and reason for cooperation in all this. "She'll be safe there until we can find a way to get that jerk out of the picture."

No, they didn't really have a plan for after they got her out of the house. But they figured Prince just sitting there in that place, for her, was worse than prison. They all wanted her out and safe, and they wanted it now. And they were all willing to help. Besides, the truth of the matter was, once Prince was out of the house, she could probably come up with a plan to take her father down, and then she'd be truly free in no time.

Spot had even offered his services. He didn't see how he could be much help going along on the rescue mission, but no kid deserved to be in a house they didn't wanna be in, he understood that. He decided should any of them get caught, in trouble, or worse that he would help defend the boroughs, and keep things in order around New York. The last thing any of them needed at this point was a gang fight, or a territory war while they were down a leader. Even if she wasn't Spot's favorite person, he understood the situation rather well.

"Alright. And after we get her out, what happens?" Avalanche said wanting them all to have a clear picture.

"Scatter," Jack said. "I come straight back to Manhattan…

"Prince, and I go to the Bronx…" Ace added.

Red nodded, "I'll be meeting you there later, I'll be taking a detour through Brooklyn to keep Spot informed."

"And I go back to Queens," Avalanche said, "and get ready to talk to the Warden, if he comes looking for her again."

Red and Avalanche had had a discussion about this already. The unfortunate logic was that Prince would be safe with Red, and Avalanche had the quick ability to talk the Warden out of anything and the suave nature to lead him off the path. This was only unfortunate because Avalanche wanted to go to the Bronx with Prince to watch out for her and keep her safe himself. All the same, Avalanche's quick mind and tongue would be able to talk their way out of almost anything. Besides, Red would be sure and keep her safe no matter what.

Each one of them nodded, it seemed they all knew exactly what was going to happen, and they were ready to execute their plan.

As they filed out of the Manhattan lodging house and headed for the Snyder residence Red and Avalanche were in the back while Jack and Ace lead the way, making idle chatter. Everyone knew where they were headed.

The two older boys glanced at each other. Neither of them needed to say a word, neither of them had the words to say, but they were both thinking the same thing. Each was reassuring the other that she was going to be fine. As soon as she was out of that house, and back with them again, she would be safe, and it would be like none of this had ever happened. Now all they had to do was get her down, and life was good again. The two boys slowly smiled at each other. This was going to work.

"Let's hurry," Avalanche said as he started walking faster, and Red followed him. Soon they over took Jack and Ace who hadn't realized that the pace had picked up, so they walked faster to keep up. Soon all four of them were smiling and running in the direction of their friend. This was going to work.

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A/N: Once again, my apologies for the lateness. I shall try very hard to remember to come back on Monday and not be late. We're a little over half way through by now, just to give you an idea of how much is left. See you soon!


	13. 13 A Good Life

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 13: A Good Life

Summary: After the turn of the century, as technology is beginning to become prominent in American society, the children of New York are still out working in sweat shops, running machinery, and selling news papers. However, growing up in New York can be dangerous, in many different ways.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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Mary had died and gone to heaven. She knew it… of course in all reality that was impossible because her body still ached from the massive tumble down the stairs she had taken the night before. She had this amazing bruise on her forehead. But, the reason she was sure she was in heaven was because of her sense of smell. Her eyes were closed but slowly a smile was forming on her lips even after the horrible dreams and nightmares. So what smelled like heaven?

"Mary Ann," Millie said in her thick Irish accent as she shook the young mistress. "I think it's high time you wake up. Julia waited as long as she could to start breakfast and 'tis nearly noon! Should your father come home soon you'll need to be back downstairs," she warned her.

With a small sigh Mary opened her eyes and looked up at Millie who oddly enough wasn't smiling like she had anticipated her to be. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Millie sighed and looked at the young girl. "…ya cut ya hair," she said sadly. In all honesty, Millie had liked Mary's long hair, it made her look pretty, like the young girl she was.

"Oh," Mary said quietly as she reached up and felt her hair. "That." She sat up slowly on the couch and for the first time realized how light her head felt. Cutting off slightly less than approximately two feet of hair could do that to a person. But now Millie was smiling. "What is it now?" she asked rolling her eyes.

"I think I had ought ta clean it up for ye a bit. Ya look silly, Mary," she said giggling.

"Do I?" she said smiling back. "Alright, but after breakfast huh?" Mary's stomach ached as she could smell everything cooking. Sure, she would eat biscuits for breakfast back at the lodging house but this was far more than that, by what she could smell.

"Fine fine," Millie said as she walked towards the kitchen leaving Mary on the couch.

Slowly the young miss stood up and felt her legs protest at the concept. It didn't hurt too much just the fact from being sore. A fall down the stairs wasn't good for one's body. She couldn't help but sigh and shake her head as she supported her weight on the arm of the couch. Her stupid father, she wanted nothing more than to punch him again, but she would rather not imagine the consequences. However, something occurred to her…

A very long time ago her father had dreaded the thought of having a newsie for a child. He had once said, 'If a newsie were my child why I'd… I'd…' and he never finished the sentence. Mary now knew the answer. If a newsie where his child he'd throw them down the stairs and leave them for dead in the cellar unless the lovely people who worked for him should save her. Which they had. She wondered if that was all he was going to do to her. Rather than dwell on the thought of what might be coming she made her way for the dining room.

As she opened the kitchen door the light smells she'd been experiencing in the living room hit her like a brick wall, a lovely, soft and fuzzy, warm brick wall, and she couldn't help but smile. She hurried over to the table, quickly as she could limp, and sat down at a chair that Millie had pulled out for her.

"I didn't remember what you liked for sure," Julia said in an apologetic tone. "So I made a little of everything." There were pancakes each one with a different kind of fruit in it. There was even bacon, sausage, meats that Mary hadn't experienced in a long time. Biscuits, muffins, and crepes and tarts of every size, shape description and flavor. Julia had been busy. She had obviously been excited to cook for someone other than herself, Millie and Adam again.

Mary would be the first to admit she would feel a little guilty completely attacking the food in front of her. It made her think of the first time she'd met Avalanche. She'd been near starving and he had given her food. She had tried to be proper as she ate it, but Avalanche had said, "What you doin'? You dun gotta impress me. You must be hungry." Remembering Avalanche made her smile and sad at the same time. However, the boys would understand, and she was sure that none of them would blame her for eating good food that was being placed in front of her. And the best part, it was free. She wished so much that all of her newsies could be there to eat it with her. She would have to remember that and work on it later.

Despite her being as hungry as she was she didn't want Julia, Adam, and Millie thinking that she had been starving, so she did take a fair share of food and did start eating without a thought to her manners, but she kept it controlled and relaxed as though she had eaten like this every day.

"Miss," Adam said as he looked to Mary. Miss was a name she would tolerate fine enough. It was when they put Snyder at the end that she started having issues. "We believe that Mr. Snyder will probably be home this afternoon or evening to have some words with you." Mary nodded. She could handle that. She could find things to do in the mean time. She had a plan worked out already.

"That's fine," she said with a shrug. She looked at Julia and Millie who had concerned faces. "Dun worry," she said looking at the two women. "I'm gonna be fine," anything Snyder did to her she would happily dish back to him, but after what happened last night, she wasn't about to hit him again. She wasn't going to let her anger get the best of her again. But at the same time, nothing would be happening to her without a good amount of fight.

Millie sighed a little and went back to eating her food quietly. It wasn't difficult to tell that she was worried for her friend. "If there's anything we can do ta help ya miss," she said looking at Mary again, "we'll happily do it."

Mary thought for a moment as she chewed scrambled eggs. "Does Thomas still come on a regular basis?"

"Ye mean the messenger boy?" Millie said, and then shrugged a little. "We have a system if we need him to drop by," she said. They had taken to putting the rugs out on the fence to be beaten whenever they needed to summon the messenger boy. He'd understand the signal and come to take any messages if there were any.

"Can we get him?"

"Aye," Millie said nodding again. "I think that we can."

"Good, I'm gonna need his help." Mary said with a small smile.

Mary ate quite a bit that morning, having not been able to eat her fill like that in a very long while. She made up for a little lost time, though her stomach had definitely shrunk since the last time she'd been home.

"Come with me, lass," Millie said as she smiled and led Mary to the room where Millie stayed. "We need to get you out of that torn purple nightmare."

"'ey now!" Mary said looking down at the dress, "I fixed this myself, thank you very much, and I did a fine job."

"Ay that ya did, but since you're tumble down the stairs, a lot of your seams have come undone. Let me fix it for ye," she said as she walked to her closet. "You can wear this for now," she said. She pulled out a green dress that was very plain and quite simple. Mary found it fitting and accepted it gladly. Green had always been her favorite color. "Now, let's fix that hair of yours, shall we?"

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"Adam," Mary said as she peaked into the parlor where Adam had been doing some routine cleaning. "I need ya ta do me a favor."

"Oh?" he asked.

"Millie said you're the one who picked the lock on the cellar door yesterday… I need ya to do the same thing to my father's office."

Adam was shocked and practically appalled. "Miss! I couldn't imagine-"

"Please," she said looking at him as though it were a matter of life and death. "I need to get in there, I need to find some things…" she needed to at least start looking.

Adam was a little wary but thought for a moment. "Alright," after all, they had said if they could do anything to help they would. He guessed this was anything.

Adam led the young miss up the stairs, and found Millie first. "Millie," he instructed her, "I think we should have someone watching for Mr. Snyder should he come home. You go watch for now. Once I get done here, I'll come down and relieve you."

"Yessir," she said with a smile and a nod to him before she dashed down the stairs and headed to the front of the house. She figured this was a good time to hang the rugs outside to summon Thomas, so she would do that while she waited for Adam to come downstairs.

The pair of them walked to Mr. Snyder's office and Adam started to pick the lock. "I don't know what you're looking for, and I don't know if you'll find it here, but you are more than welcome to look."

"Oh, I'll find it here," she said nodding a little, as she waited for him to open the door. Even her father wasn't that stupid to keep the kind of information she was looking for at work.

"Alright then," he said as the lock gave way. "There you are, best of luck miss," he said giving her a small nod and starting back down the hall way and then downstairs to relieve Millie so she could return to what she had been doing before.

Mary quickly entered the room and looked around. There was a lot of filing cabinets in there. A lot of information and a lot to go through, probably years old. She'd need to find everything that she could to prove that her father was evil, lying, stealing, and in the wrong. She made it her personal goal then and there. But this was going to take time to sort through. She'd just have to manage living in this house until she could find what she was looking for. No matter what.

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"Miss Snyder!" Adam yelled from the stairs. Mary knew exactly what that meant. She finished making a note on a piece of paper, and then quickly ran to her room. She closed the office door behind her, which would lock it as she went. She threw the crumpled up paper into her room and then closed the door. She then dashed down the stairs, and turned towards the cellar.

"You're dress is down there, deary," she said. Mary ran down the stairs and threw off the plain dress and tossed it into a pile on the floor and put her old purple one back on. She practically threw herself into a heap on the floor to make herself look as disheveled as possible. There was no sign at all that Mary had ever left the basement, save for her shorter hair, which was now nicely cut all even right at the bottom of her ear lobes. But her father would probably not ask questions about that. He had no idea what was in his cellar, for all he knew she could have easily found a knife or scissors.

A minute later she heard the front door open and then close. She heard her father's footsteps and his voice. Then she heard the cellar door open. "Don't come down here," he commanded the three, and he closed the door behind him. Mary was on her own, and wasn't scared at all.

The Warden came down the stairs. "Good afternoon Princess," he said quietly. The name cut through her like a knife and sent an evil shiver down her spine. She hated that name. "How are you feeling?" She didn't speak.

He sighed. "I know, you must be angry," he said quietly. He slowly walked towards her and scooted a wooden chair across the floor to sit in. Mary looked up at him, out of the corner of her eye, a little confused. He didn't seem to be mocking her, he didn't sound as though he was talking down to her, and he didn't seem at all to be patronizing her. True, he was speaking to her as though she was a child, but his words sounded sincere. It had been ages since she'd heard her father speak this way.

"I do owe you an explanation," he said, and she looked away. Damn right he did! She wanted some answers about what he had done so long ago to her mother! She wanted to know everything! "I brought you home because you're set to be married."

That was not what she had been expecting to hear. Her entire head turned to look at him, her eyes shocked and her mouth open slightly as she stared. "When you were born, you were promised to a young boy who needed a betrothal," he explained. "The boy's father is a very well off lawyer, and the boy himself is now in college to become a lawyer as well. He's attending Columbia University. He's set to graduate next year, and you will be eighteen, and the date for your marriage has been set."

He couldn't be serious. There was no way he could be serious. Mary couldn't be engaged. "If I had found you any later, they were going to call off the wedding, so you see why I had to bring you home. I had to make sure that you have a good life-"

"I have a good life-" she said, speaking out of turn again.

"Do not interrupt me!" Snyder said, suddenly harsh. It forced Mary to put her temper in check and take a deep breath. She didn't want to go out of control again and get herself into more trouble. Snyder brought his tone down to a calmer level, and relaxed a bit himself, as well and quietly said "His name is Curtis Doyle," he explained. "He's an American, and not some dirty immigrant," he added quietly.

Mary glared at him. Most of those so called 'dirty immigrants' were her friends, and they were American just like the rest of them. But she didn't speak, she was trying very hard to keep herself under control for the time being, and it was proving more difficult than she could have imagined.

"Your mother," Snyder said quietly, but with a sort of bitterness in his voice, "wanted you to marry him."

"Did she?" Mary said the fire in her being fueled again.

"Yes! She did!" Snyder snapped back quickly. Mary wanted to say more but bit her lip to restrain herself. "She was the one who suggested it as a matter of fact."

Of course she did, Mary thought. Mary was starting to grow a great dislike for her mother. Not only had the woman left her to fend for herself in a house with an evil man, but she had planned out her life before going? At this rate, Mary was in no hurry to ever see or hear from Amanda Snyder ever again.

It was silent for a very long time. "Would you," Snyder said and then cleared his throat to try again. "You may stay in your room tonight, if you like."

"Fine," Mary said quietly.

"Fine," Snyder said himself. "I'm going to be away at work for the next few days," he explained.

"I know," she said bluntly as she looked away from him, not really in the mood to look at the man.

"I'll be here tonight, and then I'll leave. I'll be back in a few days, Saturday evening so that we can go to church on Sunday morning. Then I will probably have to be at work for quite some time after that."

"Fine," she said again, still refusing to look at him.

Snyder turned and left her. He went up the stairs and towards his office. Mary heard the door slam before she got up and sighed. This was a fine mess her mother had gotten her into. She was not at all pleased.

Mary traded her torn purple dress for the green one that Millie had loaned to her and then took the purple one back upstairs.

"Are ye quite alright, Miss?" Millie asked who was waiting at the top of the stairs for her.

"Yeah," she said quietly, "I'm fine. I'm gonna stay in my own room tonight," she reassured her red headed friend. Mary sighed and looked away quickly. Millie's red hair couldn't help but make Mary think of Red. "I think I'll just… be there until dinner," she told her and then went upstairs. She walked into her room and closed the door behind her. Slowly she turned to take a look at her past.

She was sure she had put this all behind her for a good long while, she had hoped forever. She looked around the white room that was accented in pink. She walked over to her vanity and slowly rolled up her sleeve. On her wrist was a very tarnished gold bracelet she'd never taken off. She had worn it to remind herself of her mother, but she didn't want to do that anymore. She unclasped it and sat it on the vanity, where she would promptly forget about it. She sighed once more as she looked at the curtains with pink ribbon run through them. She had been a little Princess, she knew it. This room proved it. She didn't like it, but it was who she had been. She was determined to not be that again. She sat down on the bed and it surprised her how soft it was. She had been a truly spoiled porcelain doll in her mother's eyes, hadn't she? And in the end that's all her mother would think of her as, a doll, to be left behind and forgotten. Mary now hated her mother nearly as much as her father. So much for family.

Slowly Mary leaned down and picked up the crumpled paper she'd thrown on the floor. It was a bunch of numbers and letters that really no one would know what they meant, but when she needed what those numbers and letters meant she could go back and see them again. For now, she stashed the paper in her drawer, and she would start a collection of papers that, she was sure, was bound to grow over the next few… however long this took.

After a few hours of being in her room Millie knocked on her door. "Miss," she said quietly as she opened the door a little to look in on Mary, "dinner is ready." And then, more quietly, she added, "And Thomas called, but I sent him away and told him to come back tomorrow." She nodded, that had been the right decision, and she was sure Millie had done that times before when Mary's father had been home, so the boy was probably used to it. Mary knew she must attend dinner, however, she wasn't sure what to wear. Millie said that Mary could simply wear the green dress for now, and would tell the Warden where she had gotten it. Through dinner she spoke as little as possible and ate only until she was no longer hungry. She had eaten her fill once that day, any more than that, was just uncalled for in her mind. Though Julia was an excellent cook. She'd need to take lessons from her again sometime.

At one point during the meal, the Warden did inquire of the dress, and when Millie told him where it came form, he instructed Millie to order some fabric in different colors, and to begin stitching new dresses for his daughter. This way, Mary wouldn't have to leave the house to go dress shopping, but she would be able to wear more than servants clothes.

After dinner, the young girl bid her father and her friends good night. She walked up to her room and sighed. She didn't know what she'd wear to bed, the nightgowns, even if she could bring herself to wear one, were going to be far too small. Millie quietly knocked on the door. "Miss?" she asked.

"Come in," Mary said quietly. Millie stuck her head inside. "I found something," she said. "It's one of Adam's old work shirts… I thought you might be most comfortable in it for the night. If not you're more than welcome to borrow one of my night gowns." Millie came in to show Mary the shirt and closed the door behind her.

Mary looked at the shirt and then looked at Millie and a smile grew on her face. "Millie you always were so smart!" she said as she ran over to her friend and gave her a hug. "Thank you."

Millie only smiled and hugged her back. "Aye miss. _Tá fáilte romhat. Is leor nod don eolach." _(You're Welcome. A hint is sufficient for the wise.) Mary looked at her and cocked her head. She knew what it meant, but what did it mean? "Well I didn't suppose that you had been walkin' around in that dress for years… I thought a shirt might be a bit more comfortable."

Mary chuckled. "Thank you…_Oíche mhaith, codladh sámh." _(Good night, sleep well.)

"Good night to you as well miss," she said with a small nod.

Mary looked at the shirt and quickly got herself out of the green dress and into the work shirt. It felt like home, and it delighted her to put it on. Mary turned on the lamp beside her bed, and then turned off any other lamps that had been on for light. She walked back over to her bed and lay down under the covers. She had to admit, it was very comfortable. She would probably be asleep in minutes. She then reached up and switched off the lamp at her bedside table.

But then, there was a sound on the roof. What was it? It sounded like something was hitting it and then rolling off right above her head. It happened several times too. It would hit the roof, she'd hear it bounce, and then roll off. Finally she heard it go a different direction and roll off a different way. And then she realized what was going on. She started to get out of bed, and just as her feet touched the floor she heard the sound of a pebble hitting her window. "…oh no…" she whispered to herself and she ran for the window.

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A/N: a little closer to on time this week, yes? That's all for now though. I'll see you back here come Thursday, if you're interested.


	14. 14 See if I Care

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 14: See if I Care

Summary: After the turn of the century, as technology is beginning to become prominent in American society, the children of New York are still out working in sweat shops, running machinery, and selling news papers. However, growing up in New York can be dangerous, in many different ways.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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The four boys raced down the street, grinning from ear to ear, on their way, and quite frankly kind of excited, to save Prince from what must be total hell for her. However as they got closer Avalanche, currently in the lead, glanced over his shoulder at his friends, and put a finger to his lips to let them know they were getting close, and they needed to quiet down. The boys got the message and slowed their footsteps gradually until they were down to a silent brisk walk. There were a few people out on the streets so the boys tried to look as inconspicuous as possible. Not the simplest task, but they were trying all the same. They didn't exactly belong in the neighborhood for the time of night it was. But at the same time, no one who lived there was exactly going to be out and about now where they? So there wasn't a good chance of anyone of any consequence seeing them, or anyone at all as they turned off of the major street.

Avalanche and Red were in the front and Jack and Ace were behind carrying on a hushed conversation. Red looked over at Avalanche who looked back at him. "So…" Red said finally, "you think we can get that rope to loop around one of those points on the roof?" The roof was oddly shaped. If you were to think of a three pointed crown, the middle spike was taller than the outer two. The outer two were in the corners of the house and the center of the roof was one long funnel shaped spike out of the center.

"Sure," he said with a shrug. "Why would it be hard?"

"Well, when we throw the rope up onto the roof isn't it just kinda gonna sit there, and not come back down the other side? And throwing it all the way over? There's no one of us have that good an arm."

"I got this covered," he said as they turned onto the block of the Snyder house and all four of them went quiet nearly at the same time. They only had to walk a block to reach the house. There was a black iron fence around it and a small yard and a garden inside the fence , and then the towering two story house.

"Okay Jack," Avalanche said. Jack got the clue and handed an end of the rope to Avalanche. The man took the rope and then took a newspaper out of his back pocket. It was all rolled up upon itself. Avalanche tied the rope around the newspaper and made sure it was secure and wasn't going to slip out of the knot in the rope when thrown. When he was satisfied he said, "Okay, one good toss, and we'll be set," he said. Jack gave the rope all the slack he could only holding on to the very end of it.

Avalanche leaned back and pitched the paper hard as he could towards the roof. It landed, bounced, and then rolled off into the yard below. "Damn," he said with a sigh.

"Here," Ace said, "lemme try. I pitch when we play baseball in the streets all the time," he said. He reeled in and grabbed the newspaper. With a mighty "woosh!" as his arm cut through the air the paper went soaring high up onto the roof, bounced once, and then the second time in the wrong direction, rolled and landed on the ground again.

"…okay," Red said. "My turn, you guys can't throw worth a damn," he said shaking his head. He took the newspaper and grabbed it around the center as his friends had and with the all the strength in one arm he could muster, without hurting himself, he sent the paper flying towards the roof. Unfortunately, his aim wasn't the best. He hit the spike in the roof rather than to the side of it, so the paper bounced off the spike, off the roof, and then onto the ground.

"Ya know," Jack said, "youse all is goin' about this all wrong," he informed them.

"Oh really?" Avalanche said.

"Let's see you do better Cowboy," Ace chimed in folding his arms.

Jack could only chuckle and then reeled the paper back in. He moved several steps to the right of where the boys stood giving him a whole new angle on the roof. He grabbed the end of the paper rather than the middle and flicked it in the direction of the middle spike. He used the tall center as a backboard, and it bounced off, and went and dropped down on the other side. "Told ya," Jack said.

"Hush," Avalanche said rolling his eyes. Red, in the mean time had collected some small pebbles from the road and tossed one up at Prince's window to get her attention. He hoped she wasn't asleep yet.

Ace and Jack ran over to where the paper had landed on the ground, hopping over the fence in doing so. Red and Avalanche stayed at the rope they were at where they would talk to her. "Psssst!" Avalanche hissed. "Prince! C'mere!"

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"…Oh no…" Mary whispered to herself and she ran over to the window. What were they thinking? She hesitated for a moment as she looked down at the handle that would open the window. She just decided she would talk to them… she had to, or this wasn't going to end well. She undid the latches at the top of the window and thrust it open. She put her hands down on the window sill and leaned her head out the window. "Hush up will ya? My father's home!" she hissed at them in a violently loud whisper.

Avalanche was in such shock he dropped the rope, and Red's mouth seemed to fall open as though someone had suddenly shot him in the stomach. "Prince…" Avalanche whispered back at her, "…what happened to ya forehead?" Her amazing bruise from her trip down the stairs was still quite prominent as was the bump that was forming under it.

"…and…" Red choked on the word before clearing his throat and saying, "…your hair."

Mary rolled her eyes in an aggravated manner almost so hard that her head rolled with them. "I fell down the stairs and I cut it myself…" she whispered violently once again. "Why are ya still here? Didn't ya hear me tell ya my father's home?" she asked.

Avalanche leaned down and picked up the rope again. "We came ta get ya down," he explained. "All ya gotta do is grab on to a side of the rope, and we'll let ya down to the ground," he promised her. "So c'mon grab-

"I'm not coming down," she said instantly. And Avalanche dropped the rope again.

"What do you mean?" Red said in almost a normal tone.

"Hush up!" Mary said at him again. "I told ya once, I told ya twice, I ain't tellin' ya again. My father is home. He finds you all here, ya dead. He finds me gone, ya dead. So save yaselves and get the hell outta here!" she threatened each of them. Yes, she had seen Ace and Jack around the corner as well.

Avalanche picked up the rope again and Red made a B-line for the fence. Jumping it in a single bound he was over the fence. "Hold tight boys" he called to Jack and Ace and tugged on the rope to warn them to hold tight. He then jumped onto the rope and started climbing up towards Mary's room.

"Red!" she said speaking as loud as she dared. "Get down, now! You get outta here!" She had just had their records cleared. She didn't need them with new black marks on them so soon!

But Red didn't listen. He just kept going up and up and up towards her window, Jack and Ace straining to hold the rope so that he wouldn't fall and hurt himself. Mary had to back up from the window to allow Red to enter, though she didn't want to, not by a long shot. She wanted to push him out of it, and send him back to the ground, where he could run away and be free, so much unlike herself at that moment, who simply couldn't be! Not yet.

Red grabbed onto the window sill, and the window itself. Mary had walked over to the complete other side of the room and turned her back to Red while he hoisted himself inside. He stopped once he hit the ground and gave a quick look around. Mostly looking at the door, the window, and any other escape routes. Besides the window he came in, there was one more, so it looked like he'd be leaving the way he came in; and taking Mary with him besides.

He walked over to her and spun her around. Her arms were folded, her eyes were fierce, her expression was not as elated as he has been expecting. "C'mon," he said in a whisper. "Let's go."

"No," she said quietly. "I'm not going."

"Why not? You can't wanna stay here," he said shaking his head.

"I can do more good here than I can out there," she said attempting to explain. "Now, please go," she said trying very hard to stay calm.

"Not without you!" he promised her as he grabbed her hand, not wanting to let go.

Mary didn't want him to let go either, but she pulled her hand back anyway, a gesture that hurt her, a little bit, to do. Red had always been so kind to her, and here he was trying to be helpful again, and she was rejecting it? Of course he wouldn't understand. "I can't explain right now, but you must go, and I gotta stay here, okay?"

"No…" he said shaking his head as he looked down at the younger girl. "No, that's not okay. You're unhappy, you're imprisoned here… you can't stay."

"I have to… I have to take my father out of power, and the only way I can do that is from here."

"No it ain't!" Red said getting a little louder, and then hushing down again. "You can take him from the outside, beat him down with our help."

"No Red, this isn't that kind of matter we're dealin' with here, this ain't no Brooklyn street fight, this takes more time and thought, and requires things that I can't do outside of here."

"Everyone can be beaten down from the outside!" and he truly believed that.

"Not this time Red," she said, stating her firm belief right back at him.

"I'll prove you wrong," he said as he turned away from her in a huff.

"I doubt you will…" she said calmly and cooly, arms still folded across her chest.

Red groaned. "Come with me," he said going back to her again.

"No…" she said in the same tone.

Then, suddenly, and literally quite out of the blue Red grabbed her tightly around the waist, leaned down and kissed her. Mary froze. What was he doing? What on earth was he thinking? Why was he kissing her and why wasn't she pulling away? For a moment she allowed her eyes to close and she even kissed him back. After a few moments he broke the kiss and moved his head back way from hers. All she could do was stare at him in confusion as her mind went a million miles a minute trying to decide what to make of that, and what to do now.

Mary sighed inwardly as she realized what she had to do, and she apologized to him mentally. She thought, 'I'm so sorry Red,' as she looked down at the floor with a frown and then, she had to get him out of there the only way she knew how, reject him. And the best way to do that? Mary could feel and hear her heart pounding in her chest in protest, screaming at her, no! Don't do it! But it was too late.

The next second Red's cheek was burning and tingling from where Mary's hand had connected with it. She had slapped him in order to get him to leave. It was the worst thing she felt she had ever done. She looked up at him ferociously, as she did all in her power to hide the tears that wanted to spill onto her cheeks so badly.

Red recovered and then looked at her in shock. His mouth then closed into a thin line and the happiness he'd felt only a few moments ago was gone into a painful crack that she had put in his heart when her hand connected with his face. "Fine, stay here, die here, be unhappy here, see if I care," he said as he turned back to the window. The whole sentence was a lie. He did care, he cared so much. He didn't want her to stay, more than anything he wanted her to go, wanted her to live with him, be happy with him. He wanted to care for her forever. But there was no talking her into it, so he forced himself to pretend he didn't care, maybe after a while he wouldn't.

He reached out the window and tugged on the rope giving the boys warning that he was coming down. He turned back and looked at her, where the young leader was still standing defiantly on her own two feet staring at his Red head. "You know that this was your decision, not mine… hope you're happy with the choice you've made, and the people who love you, who you're going to destroy by making it," he said hotly. He spoke of all the Queens newsies, the three boys outside and of course himself. He grabbed the rope and swung out the window and lowered himself to the ground quickly.

Once Jack and Ace saw him on the ground securely, they released the rope. "She comin'?" Jack called. As he did Red gave a strong jerk on the rope causing it to loop back up over the roof and land at his feet. "Hey!" Jack said loudly in a whisper of protest.

Avalanche hurried over to the fence and grabbed it as he leaned forward. "Red what are ya doin'? We gotta get her down!"

"She ain't comin'," he said as he wound the rope up. "Let's go."

"What do you mean she ain't comin'?"

"She made her choice to stay here. She said she could do more good in there than out here. She said she could destroy him from the inside… she told me to leave, so we're leaving." He continued to coil the rope furiously around his arm in a hurry to get out of there again. It was obvious to Avalanche, and probably to the other boys too, that Red was angry, and wanted to go now.

"What did she mean?" Avalanche asked. He didn't understand what was happening.

"I dunno she said she couldn't explain…" he groaned and pulled the paper roughly from where it had been securely tied to the rope and threw it out of the fence. This was quite the feat, considering Avalanche had tied it tightly enough so it wouldn't fall out with just a slight tug. "Clear the way," he warned as he made a run at the fence again and leaped back over it. "Let's go." He started walking back down the street without checking to see if anyone was following him. So, she didn't want him, so she didn't love him the way he loved her? Fine. He'd leave her to die with her short hair and all her bruises. See if he cared.

But of course he cared. And if she had bruises like that every day she would die there. The first girl he'd ever really loved, and not only did she break his heart, but she wouldn't even let him help her. He held back tears as he walked faster.

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The second Red left the window Mary lost her self control and started to cry. Why did he have to make it so difficult? Why couldn't he just listen and leave like she had told him too! Stupid boy. She would explain it all later, but she couldn't risk waking her father. Any other night, had they come any other night to 'rescue' her she would have taken the time to explain. But as it was she had to get them clear, and away, and safe.

She brought her hands up to her face to wipe the tears away as she listened to Red ranting quietly on the ground below. She didn't close the window. His voice was so full of hatred for her that she could barely stand it… she'd never kissed a boy before. And what did she do to the man? She slapped him. He would never trust her, and never look at her the same way again. He'd be mad forever, she knew it.

Mary heard Red tell Avalanche to move, and then he said, "Let's go." She walked over to the window as she tried to brush away her tears. Red didn't turn to look back, and neither did Jack or Ace as they slowly followed after the Brooklyn boy, but Avalanche knew better.

Slowly the former Queens leader looked up at the second story to find her standing at her window, sad and grief stricken. Something wasn't right. She wouldn't be crying , she wouldn't be that sad if she was truly going to be staying there for her own benefit. He looked up at the window and pointed at her with an expression that read, "this isn't over… and you better explain yourself young lady." Though he didn't say a word, Mary understood and slowly nodded her head. She would be explaining it all, and very soon, and she would be in dire need of her help if this was to go well.

Avalanche then turned away from her and the house and ran to catch up with his companions. Mary stayed to watch them until all of them were out of sight. She then closed the window , locked it, returned to bed, and for the second night in a row, cried herself to sleep, horrified at what Red would think she had become.

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A/N: At the rate I'm going I should make the update day Friday's instead of Thursday's. But I won't do that, I'll just try to be a little more efficient. I'll be back on Monday, hopefully, if all goes well. If you're still reading and such I'd love to get a review, just to get opinions on what you think so far, and if you like it, or what you don't like, or what have you. I'll be waiting. Have a good weekend, and see you Monday!


	15. 15 Where You Goin?

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 15: Where You Goin'?

Summary: At the turn of the century, New York City is a busy town. Sometimes the important things get lost in the madness. As life goes on in the sweatshops and the child labor many people start to forget about friends, love, and family, but sometimes reminders are all too painful.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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Ace went home to the Bronx, with kind parting words in an attempt to ease Red and Avalanche's minds, though they hardly helped. Jack offered his rope and assistance should they want to try again, all they needed to do was let him know. The two older boys walked back to the Queens lodging house despite themselves and fell asleep in the bunk room. They had enough money to pay for beds, though they were technically too old to stay there, Will knew they were going to do no harm and gave them a bed, so long as they paid rent, which they did. They're apartment lay vacant in Brooklyn, they're jobs unattended to, but these things were far off in their minds at that moment.

The night they had gone out was a Friday, last night was Saturday, and it was now Sunday morning, so the Sunday paper was going out with the newsies that morning. However, Red and Avalanche didn't go along. Avalanche sat in Prince's favorite chair staring intently at the floor, thinking very hard about what to do now. He had told her, silently, warned her that she needed to tell them what was going on, but now that he thought about it how was she going to do that?

Red in the mean time was up in the bunk room with her hat in his hands again and was nearly debating whether to throw it in the fire, or have it bronzed. He had tried all night long to get her out of his mind and sleep without her disturbing his dreams… or nightmares. He had visions of her being beaten and bruised and him stuck behind some invisible wall, or pinned down at the spot, forced to watch it all, wanting nothing more than to help her, but unable to do so, no matter how he fought or tried. Needless to say, Red hadn't slept well.

He tossed her hat onto her bed and then sat on the edge of it with a sigh. Why wouldn't she come with them? What was the problem? He didn't understand, she needed to get out of there; it wasn't safe for her there obviously. She needed to be with him where he could protect her. On second thought, she was choosing to stay in the house, thinking she could take her father down from the inside? What good would it do? The judge would pardon Snyder again, and then they'd be back to square one with Prince still trapped in the house, and maybe they'd never have a chance to get her out again. But if that's what she wanted then that would be what he'd give her. But, then why was he feeling this way if he didn't care what happened to her. Why should he care? She obviously didn't care about him.

Suddenly Red heard the front door slam and he looked up with a start. He stood up and ran down the stairs. "Avalanche what-?" Avalanche was gone. Red ran out the door after his friend. "Hey!" he screamed down the street causing him to turn around and look at Red. "Where you goin'?"

Avalanche smiled and then in the voice that sold a million and a half papers he called back so Red could hear loud and clear."Gonna find out what's wrong!" He then turned running again.

Red was puzzled, but because Avalanche was off again there was no more time for questions if he was going to catch up with his younger counterpart, and he took off after the former Queens leader.

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It was Millie who woke Mary up that morning. "Miss? Miss Mary," she said shaking her gently. Mary had been so tired that she had nearly fallen into a coma of sleep, once it over took her in the wee hours of the morning.

Mary sighed sadly and opened her eyes slowly. "Hi Millie," she said in a soft accent. She slowly sat up in bed and looked at her Irish friend. "How are ya?"

"Oh, I'm fine miss," she said with a bright smile. "It's nearly noon," she said, "we was getting' worried about ye."

Mary forced a chuckle and shook her head. "Naw… worried about me? Nothin' ta be worried about, I'm fine."

"Julia has lunch ready," Millie informed her. "C'malong when y'are ready," she said as she left Mary to get dressed for the day.

Mary sighed and fell back into her bed and closed her eyes again. Now that she was awake, there would be no returning to sleep, not after the hellish nightmare that had been last night's reality. She opened her eyes, not able to keep them closed any longer. The image of Red's usually sparkling green eyes turned sad as though she'd broken his heart to a million pieces was etched into her brain, and it wasn't going away. Every time she blinked she saw them, making having her eyes closed a painfully sad reflex.

Finally she pulled herself from the bed and put Millie's green dress onto her frame once more. Suddenly she remembered and she ran out of her room. "Millie!" she called. "Thomas! Has Thomas been here yet?" she called.

"No, not yet, he usually dun come until the afternoon miss." Mary sighed in relief. Thank goodness.

She slowly made her way down the stairs, remembering her dislocated shoulder. She had been able to ignore the pain last night, or she had forgotten about it with everything else going on, either way, it was feeling better today than it had yesterday, she could use her arm a little more. Mary quickly went to the kitchen. Her other joints were feeling a bit better as well, she was able to walk normally now without too much effort.

"Ah! Good mornin' miss," Julia said as she turned around with a plate with a casserole on it. "Hope you're hungry!" she said.

"Thanks Julia," she said taking the plate and getting a fork. "Where's Adam?"

"Out in the stables," Millie said. "Shall I get 'im for ye?"

"Yeah, uh… please," she said nodding as she started eating the casserole that Julia had made for her, just standing in the middle of the kitchen. Julia was surprised, Mary must have been more hungry than she had thought.

A few moments later Adam and Millie came back into the house. "Good morning miss Mary!" Adam said in a warm greeting.

"Mornin'. Listen, I need ya ta open my father's office again," she said between bites.

Adam sighed, he hadn't enjoyed it the first time, but he was sure Mary knew what she was doing. "Alright," he said with a nod, as he quickly and easily gave in. "I'll go get started on that," and he went up stairs to pick the lock.

Mary ate the casserole as quickly as she could. She wanted it gone by the time Adam got the lock picked. "Goodness child!" Julia said. "Slow down a little, or you'll choke yourself to death!" Julia was rather frightened of this happening. "Would you like more?"

"No," Mary said as she finished her food and handed Julia back the plate. "It was real good though, thanks," she said. She then hurried out of the kitchen, leaving Julia and Millie confused standing there with an empty plate and quite a bit of casserole left.

"Adam!" Mary called as she left the kitchen. "Ya got it yet?" she asked.

"Just did miss!" he called back as she head the door swing open.

"Great, thanks!" she hollered back, and then ran into her room. She pulled out a stack of papers. She sat down in her room with a pen in hand staring at the paper and thinking for a moment. She then carefully started writing a letter, and when one was finished she wrote another. When she was satisfied with how they looked she folded them up neatly and sealed them. She then went downstairs and called, "Millie!"

Millie came out of the parlor where she had been doing some more mending on Mary's dress. Mary sat the letter down on the large coffee table in the living room. "When Thomas comes," Mary said to Millie, "I need ya to call for me, and I need to give him these notes," she said. Millie did nothing but nod, for that was all she had time to do before Mary turned and ran upstairs once more.

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Avalanche and Red waited around in the same spot all morning. "…Snowball," Red finally said in an irritated tone, "what are we doin' here?"

"Waiting, because when an answer comes, this is where it will come to."

After hours of waiting Red was getting hungry. "Look," he said, "I'm gonna go get some food over at Jenny's… you want anything?"

"Sure…" Avalanche said absent-mindedly.

Red stared at him for a second before he gave him a gentle shove and woke him from his day dream. "What?" Avalanche said.

"…I just wanted to know what you want for lunch…" Red said with a dead pan look at Avalanche, who was really on edge and sort of over reacting.

"Oh," he said as he took a deep breath. "Turkey sandwich'll be fine."

"Sure thing," and Red left him standing there on the corner by himself for thirty minutes.

At one thirty he returned and Avalanche was grinning ear to ear with two pieces of paper in his hands. "This came for you," he said as he handed a sealed note out to Red.

Red was shocked. "What do you mean it came for me?"

"I mean, you've received a letter…" Avalanche said with an ear to ear grin. He had already finished reading his.

Red took it from Avalanche's hand and broke the seal while Avalanche took the sandwich from Red's hands and opened the paper bag to enjoy it. Red stopped before he read the letter in his hand. "What does that one say?" he asked pointing to the letter in Avalanche's hand.

"Oh!" he said as he opened up the paper. "It did say we were to read this one first," he said as he opened up the letter…

Dear Avie… and no doubt Red who is reading over his shoulder. Read this letter first, okay boys?

No one could be sorrier than me about what happened last night. But that will all be explained later. I wanted to thank you for what you all tried to do, but I meant it when I said that I need to take down my father from the inside. That's why I'm staying. My father has loads of old files here. For a while I'm going to be looking through them, and find out where he stashed all the money he stole. Once I get more information you'll be getting more letters from me, and we'll make it so that it will be legally impossible to let him off the hook. Trust me, I know what I'm doing. But here's what you need to do.

You need to figure out how my father knew where I was, and how to get me. I saw him around Queens lately, but he didn't seem too interested in the kids there, so I don't know why he suddenly showed up. Still, this is important. Find out how he found me.

Next, I need you to get a good lawyer. A real good one, who isn't corrupt. I know that might be hard, but I trust you to do it. Tell him money isn't an issue, and he'll be paid for his time. Evidence will be brought to him by you two, and I'll get it to you via Thomas. And don't worry about paying Thomas, I got that covered too.

We need to do this quick as possible, you'll see why when you read Red's letter. I'm counting on the two of you to help me. Please write me back if you will. If you need paper, go to my bunk, there is a journal there with blank pages, tear some out.

I really hope you'll forgive me and help me. Thank you both.

-Prince.

"Well…" Red said as he finished reading the letter. Maybe she'd been right, maybe she could take down her father from the inside.

"C'mon!" Avalanche said rushing Red, "let's read yours now!"

Red quickly and, almost excitedly opened the letter that the messenger boy had brought.

Dear Red, and probably Avalanche, but you don't get to read all of this one! – The first sentence made Red chuckle and Avalanche shove him to be quiet so he could read.

So, I found out what my father wanted me back for. He says I'm engaged, or betrothed or… whatever it's called. I'm supposed to marry my father's friend's son or something. He's away at college now, but he's supposed to be graduating soon, and when he does we're supposed to get married and that is supposed to be that. I don't want this to happen… I (here it looked like she started to write something and then scribbled it out.)

Avalanche, go read your own letter again.

Red turned to Avalanche and covered up the rest of the letter. Avalanche sighed with annoyance. "Fine! I'm goin' I'm goin'," he said as he turned away to eat his sandwich, after all, he'd already read his own letter twice. Red, meanwhile, continued to read his.

Red, I am so sorry. You have no idea (more words were scribbled out here as her thoughts ran away with her).

I don't really know what to say. Just please believe me that I thought the only way I could get you to leave was by telling you that I didn't want your help. Just telling you I didn't want your help wasn't going to convince you, I didn't think, I had to show you I didn't want it. But I do want it. I need your help Red. Avalanche won't be able to do this alone. And I want you to be there when I'm finally out of this house. Though it was very nice of you to scale the side of it and try to save the Princess (the word written very messily making it hard to read) in the tower, she wants to be able to walk out the front door, free forever.

I don't want to marry some rich guy's son, no matter who he is, how much money he has, what he's done or anything like that. Red, I had fun with you. You're the person I want to spend time with. So please let me spend a little more time with you and help get me out of here for once and for all?

I'll be waiting for your replies.

-Prince.

Red stared at the paper for a moment. So she had lied to him? He had never been so happy to be lied to in that case! In fact, he didn't mind at all. She had been right; the only way he was going to leave her be is if she had done what she had. There for, now that she was practically begging for their help Red had to decide. Though it wasn't difficult. He wanted to see her again. He wanted to hug her again. He wanted his mavourneen back in his arms, and he never wanted to let her go again.

"Avalanche," Red said as he turned to his friend. "Where did that messenger boy go?"

"Thomas? He said he had an urgent delivery. He'd be back very soon."

Red turned and took off as fast as he could back the way the boys had come. Avalanche was shocked. "Where you goin'?" he called to his friend.

"I'm gonna save the Princess!" he called back and then ran all the way back to the lodging house, leaving Avalanche dumbfounded as he stood there blinking. What had that paper said?

Red arrived back at the lodging house and found Prince's journal under her bunk. He grabbed it, and the pen that was at the front desk and took off running again back to where Avalanche was waiting. Thomas had already arrived. "I thought you'd be back," Avalanche said arms folded. He had figured out that Red went to get the paper.

Quickly the red head opened the book and turned pages until he found one that was completely blank on both sides. With a sharp pull he took it out. He handed it to Avalanche who wrote a note on it and signed his name, and then Red did the same. He folded it up and handed it back to Thomas. "Will she get it today?"

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It was later in the evening than Thomas usually worked, but yet he knocked on the door. When Millie answered she turned and called into the house. "Mary! Thomas has come back!"

Mary poked her head out of her father's office. "Already?"

"Yes ma'am!" Thomas called as he removed his hat and called into the house. "I had very strict instructions to deliver this to you today, if at all possible."

Mary ran down the stairs and he held out the letter to her. "Thank you," she said. She quickly unfolded it.

Misprint,

All ya had to do was ask!

-Avalanche

Mavourneen,

_Is neamhbhuan cogadh na gcarad; má bhíonn sé crua, ní bhíonn sé fada._ _An té a phósfas an t-airgead, pósfaidh sé óinseach._ _Is minic a bhris béal duine a shorn, so… I'm sorry I didn't listen…_ _Ni heolas go haontios._

_You can count on us, mavourneen._

_-Red_

Mary's eyes grew large with a bright smile on her face. "Come back tomorrow," she told Thomas. "I'll have more for you then, and every day for a while, can ya do that?"

"I'm sorry miss, but I can't afford to just do any favors I-"

"Well of course you'll be paid! What was I thinkin'?" She laughed out loud and went to get some of her father's pocket change. She grabbed a hand full and sorted out the quarters and then returned. "Here," she said handing him two dollars in quarters. "And there's more where that came from if ya keep comin' back. We gotta deal?" she asked as she spit in her hand and offered it to the messenger boy.

Millie was disgusted and Thomas was a bit confused. But he responded in the same manner, spitting in his hand first and then shaking Mary's. "Deal!" He took the two dollars, and went on his way home.

"What did they say?" Millie asked as she leaned to look at the paper.

"Millie," Mary said hiding the paper from her prying eyes, with a playful smirk on her face. "I do believe that Mr. Snyder will not have much power much longer." Mary dropped the paper on the coffee table and ran into the kitchen to tell Julia to make something wonderful out of celebration.

Millie meanwhile, picked up the letter and read it to herself, Avalanche's short portion first, and then Red's mostly in Gaelic reading...

**Darling,**

**A row between friends is short lasting; even if bitter it is never long. He who marries money, marries a fool. Many a time a man's mouth broke his nose, so… I'm sorry I didn't listen…** **There is no knowledge without unity.**

**You can count on us, mavourneen.**

**-Red**

She couldn't help but smile. The young girl had a boy all her own and it made her grin ear to ear. She then hurried into the kitchen after the young miss to join in the celebration.

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A/N: The bad news is, I've had a hard time sleeping lately. The good news, as I lay in bed thinking about things, I realize that I owe you an update. That's why I posted this today. Life is busy. There's less than 10 chapters left, so stick with me for about 5 more weeks of summer to see what happens. Drop me a review if you have a spare minute (please?) and I'll be back on Thursday with an update for you!


	16. 16 Take Care of Myself

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 16: Take Care of Myself

Summary: After the turn of the century, as technology is beginning to become prominent in American society, the children of New York are still out working in sweat shops, running machinery, and selling news papers. However, growing up in New York can be dangerous, in many different ways.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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"The police don't know," Rylet explained as he shook his head. "Remember, a couple of days ago I asked them if they knew how the warden found out about her. They said that he hadn't mentioned it… just said he knew where she was and how to find her…"

Avalanche sighed. It was now Monday, and just yesterday had they agreed to help Prince. Now while she was toiling away at home, the two boys were out on a mission to do as much as they could as quickly as possible. They were charged with the tasks of figuring out how the warden knew, and finding a good lawyer who wasn't corrupt. It was going to be a rough few days.

The two elder boys were back in the Queens lodging house. Wit was still bed ridden and Rylet continued to be in charge for the time being. Though all the kids were really starting to wonder about Prince, and where she could be, but they kept telling her the same story. "She was on a trip. She'll be back in a few days." Though the older ones were starting to wonder.

They all sat there trying to think. None of them, not one, had the slightest idea where to begin the search. The police didn't know, the newsies couldn't have done it. Who else knew? The only adult Prince trusted was Medda in Manhattan, and she had told that story to Avalanche one night recently, while walking to the dance hall. But Medda would never do something like that, not to a newsie who was just trying to make a living and hide. Ever. They sat there wracking their brains trying to figure out who else knew.

Avalanche suddenly looked up, eyes wide and face in near absolute horror. He knew.

"What?" Red said as he looked up at the man who seemed as though he had just seen a ghost.

There was only one person who Avalanche knew would dislike Prince enough to want to betray her like this."…Max. My brother Max, it was him."

"What?" Red had known about Avalanche's brother, but he didn't know that Max not only didn't like Prince, but despised her very existence. "What do you mean?"

"Max is working…" he said slowly taking a deep breath, "for the Italian's right now." Apparently Max's dark hair and eyes and such were enough to make him look Italian, and he was able to join up with them. However, there were a few unforeseen issues with that, when he had picked up his life of crime. Issues that Avalanche never talked about.

Red paused for a moment and glanced at Rylet who only shrugged. "I gotta get to sellin' boys," he said with a nod to them. "I'll see you later, good luck," and with that headed out. He didn't ever meet Max, so this conversation would mean little to him.

"Avalanche, how do you know this?" Red asked as he leaned forward on the couch putting his elbows on his knees, looking up at his friend.

"Because… a while back, he came looking for me… to collect the money I owed…"

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_"I'll send them the money! I told you that."_

_"All the way from Virginia, Al? You had better. You started this mess! I didn't ask you to, neither did anyone else. You are askin' for trouble ya know that? A big—"_

_"Will ya knock it off? They don't know nothin', and they won't. I'll send the money. I'll make more there, I'm certain of it."_

_"Avalanche?" Prince interjected strongly into the conversation._

_Both the men turned to her. She could see Avalanche's face, but the other was shrouded in darkness._

_The man scoffed. "Follow you around like a lost pup…" the man looked back towards Avalanche. "I'll be in touch." He then turned and hurried out of sight._

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"My brother had been sent to collect it without even knowing that I had ever borrowed it in the first place. If they found out that we were related, it could have put him in big trouble, so I had to get outta town and make money elsewhere. And I had everything paid off, I thought…" Virginia had been as profitable as he had hoping, but that didn't explain the situation.

"So did ya get 'em paid back?"

Avalanche's smile was gone, the usual happy optimistic spark in his eye was doused and he looked so sad, he was not proud of himself. "Yeah," he said quietly. "Yeah. So Max… I don't know why he would do something like this. Maybe it wasn't him." Or maybe something had gone wrong, or he was angry and he wanted to hit Avalanche where it would hurt the most, in the heart. And it did. It hurt him a lot. He practically fell back into Prince's chair and put his head into his hands. How stupid was he? He could still remember how this had all started.

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"_Well well…" Max's voice hissed as he walked down the alley. "Congratulations older brother."_

_Avalanche had taken a break from the party celebrating the end of the strike and partially his going away party just to step out and have a smoke when suddenly…_

"_Maximilian… what are ya doin' here?" he nearly choked on the cigarette talking to his younger brother. It had been about 2 years since he had seen his brother, Max had run away in 1897, when he and Prince had been 13. "Where've you been? I was worried sick-"_

"_Really?" he asked as he folded his arms and leaned against the wall. "Ya didn't go lookin' for me…" the boy sounded almost hurt, but it was hard to tell if he was mocking him or not._

_"You ran off. I've know that if people do that, ya dun go lookin' for 'em."_

"_Please…" Max pulled a cigar out of his own pocket and lit it with the flare of a match. "How's the little Princess?"_

_Avalanche growled at his younger brother, "Don't call her that."_

"_Wow," Max said in mock surprise. "That girl's got you so well trained she's got you sayin' it too!" he said and then rolled his eyes._

"_What do you want?"_

"_That little pup still hangin' around here? Followin' you around?"_

_Max had a shock to his system when his brother suddenly grabbed him by the collar and hoisted him up off the ground. "What do you want?" he asked again, both of them now in the shadow of the building._

"_Money," he choked out. And Avalanche released him, but didn't step back into the light yet._

"_What do you mean?"_

"_I mean you owe some business associates and close personal friends of mine, some money…"_

_Avalanche's jaw dropped and he took a step back. "You…"_

"_Yeah," Avalanche didn't even have to finish. He knew what he was going to say. Max had joined up with the Italians in the city of New York. It was a sort of gang of sorts, similar to Al Capone's men. He was working for them now. Had a roof over his head, making plenty of money and doing what he did best, intimidation of those younger and smaller than him. And Max had grown. He was only about two inches shorter than his five foot eleven inch tall brother. "And they want their money, and they want it now."_

_Well, now there was a problem. "I don't have it now." _

"_Don't cha?" max said. He hissed through his teeth as though he had burned his hand. "That's gonna be a problem brother…" he said shaking his head._

"_Listen… I'm gonna get the money, and I'll get it to them, as soon as I can."_

"_Well you better… tell you what, I'll make you a deal," he said quietly. "You leave town, make the money some where's else and send it back here," he said. "You do that… and I won't tell no one where that little lost pup of a Princess really came from."_

_Alex looked warily at Max. "…what do you know?"_

"_Everything…" Max said with a smile forming on his lips. "It's amazing what you can hear through kitchen doors." Max must have been standing at the back door of the lodging house when Prince and Avalanche had just met and listened to Prince's extensive story. He had known all along._

_Avalanche glared at Max. He hadn't expected anyone to find out like that, and hadn't expected his own brother to use it against his best friend. "Fine," Avalanche said quietly. He wasn't happy about it, but he'd agree_

"_So where ya gonna go?" Max said teasing his brother._

_Avalanche growled, "Virginia…" it had been his plan to go there before now anyway. But all the same, he was now a little worried about leaving Prince here on her own. _

_Max scoffed. "You're gonna make money there?" Both of them went silent for a moment. "…what was the money for, Al?"_

"_Mom," he said back quietly. "and Belinda. I'd been sending them money, thinking that I'd be able to make it and pay it back, but it was always harder than I thought it was going to be, paying it back. "I didn't think the two of them would be able to live on whatever factory job Belinda had, so I sent them more to let them keep a roof over their heads, and Belinda, I thought, would be able to cover food…"_

"_You wasted a loan on people you don't even speak to? You borrowed money for that?" Max seemed nearly infuriated. "And now you're gonna go to Virginia in hopes to make enough to send it to the people you borrowed it from? Boy you're in a real tight spot." Avalanche turned to leave, "I mean… by the time you make enough there and send it back they'll have figured out who I am, and they'll beat the money outta me instead!"_

_Avalanche spun on his heal and glared back at his brother in the shadows, seething in anger at his own flesh and blood._

_"I'll send them the money! I told you that."_

_"All the way from Virginia, Al? You had better. You started this mess! I didn't ask you to, neither did anyone else. You are askin' for trouble ya know that? A big—"_

_"Will ya knock it off? They don't know nothin', and they won't. I'll send the money. I'll make more there, I'm certain of it."_

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Avalanche stood up again. "We need to go find Max." As much as it hurt him, he didn't know who else it would be, and he had to ask his younger brother if he had done it.

Red blinked a few times. "Do you know where he is?"

Avalanche thought for a moment. "…I think I can find him."

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It was an old warehouse in Manhattan. It didn't look like anyone had been there in decades, but there was still electricity running and you could hear sounds coming from inside. Though the windows were boarded up, and it looked like a dump, outward appearances were deceiving, especially at night, which was the current time of day once again. Red got a nervous feeling as they approached the old place but he would just look at Avalanche's determination on his face, and would attempt to regain his courage. This was deeper into darker territory than either of them had ventured before. Red wasn't scared, he was prepared to do anything to make this happen, he just hoped Avalanche knew what he was doing, going in head first like he seemed to be.

Avalanche walked up to the building and knocked on a small side door. As he did a board moved and a set of intimidating male eyes looked up at him. "Name?"

"A.J." he said simply down at the eyes. Avalanche had obviously been around here before to borrow money, and in attempts to ask for extensions, or meet payments.

"One second…" the eyes moved away from the slit in the door. A moment later they came back and said, "Yeah…?"

"I'd like to speak to Max," Alex requested.

The eyes stared at Avalanche suspiciously for a minute before he said. "yeah sure…" the board moved back into place and Red and Avalanche moved out of the way for the door, and out of view of the panel.

After a few moments Max stepped out, without even looking to see who it was first. He pulled half of an old cigar out of his pocket. "I thought I'd be hearin' from ya soon as ya wised up…" he said the same old slick, slippery black tone he'd always had before. It felt as though a snake was sliding through oil when you listened to him. He lit the cigar.

"Hello Maximilian."

"Brother," Max acknowledged him back. These two hadn't spoken in nearly a year now.

"Why did you tell the warden who Prince was?" he demanded hotly. He didn't know if it was true, but Max was bound to deny it, if it was a lie.

"You didn't send any money," Max stated simply. "I told ya I wouldn't, but ya gave me no choice." So, it had been Max who had sent Prince back home.

"I sent you the money!"

"Ah… but not all of it, right brother?" he said looking at him sideways. Avalanche only responded with a vacant look. "Guess you learned your lesson didn't you?"

Here it was that Avalanche became confused. "But I did send all of it, just three months ago," he had been able to make up the difference by not living in New York, amazingly enough. It was easier than he had been expecting to make ends meet elsewhere, but with those payments, just barely.

Max now appeared to be confused. "Well I didn't get it, so drastic measures had to be taken. Sorry brother," he said, obviously not feeling sorry and taking a step towards the door.

Red was blazing. He was so furious his hair could have been on fire. "How did you know where she was? How did you tell him how to find her?"

"Pardon me…" Max squinted his eyes in the light to see who his brother's companion was, "oh!" He was a little surprised. "Why if it isn't Red, the former newsie leader of Brooklyn. Well isn't this a happy little reunion couldn't you just-"

"How… did you know… where she was?" he asked again, not in the mood to play games.

Max stopped short and chuckled slightly. "Simple enough. I had a girl that I wanted to take out dancing, and she resided in Queens. One night, I went to one of the dance halls with her, and saw something I never thought I'd see," he explained. "The young Princess was in a dress again, and her hair was down. Knowing that the Warden was looking for her, his beloved daughter, and since the full payment hadn't been received, I knew where she could be found. Besides that, it appeared as though she had some company that would need to be dealt with." He gave a smile to the two boys, but it was an odd and rather scary smile. "All of this could have been avoided, had the money been paid."

Fine. He wanted his money? "How much does he still owe?" Red said in a threatening tone to Max. Red looked as though he would attack the younger one at any given moment.

Max was strong, but not stupid. Slowly he responded, "$15 plus interest, making it an even $20."

Red blinked a few times and thought for a moment. Slowly he reached back into his pocket and pulled out $15 dollars and offered it to Max.

"Red what're ya doin'?"

"This is what you owed, I'm gonna pay it. It ain't all, but its most."

Avalanche then took out the last $5 and added it to the pile of cash. Sure, it wasn't much, but he knew that Red would insist, and there was definitely no talking him out of it.

Max stared down at the twenty dollars for a moment and then took it. "Consider your debt paid," he said in a sincere tone, they wouldn't be coming after Avalanche anymore for sure. There was only one problem… the $15 dollars was all the money Red had to his name. He was flat broke with nothing but the change in his pocket which was maybe fifty cents or so. Alex still had a couple dollars, but that would mean making the rent at their apartment this month was going to be difficult, let along having enough money to eat.

Max then turned around and went inside. Red wanted to have more than another couple of words with him, but Avalanche held him back and the door slammed behind him. Red glared at it for a moment and Avalanche released him.

"Ya didn't hafta do that!" Avalanche said angrily as he turned away from Red.

"Yeah, I did, he was just gonna make our lives livin' hells until we did."

"Not us! My! Mine! My life!" Avalanche yelled as he turned back to his friend furious. "I can take care of myself!"

"I know ya can!" Red said yelling now as well.

"Then why did ya do that?"

"Because ya CAN'T take care of yaself!" Red countered back.

Avalanche froze looking at him. "Yes, I can!" he said intensely, but he wasn't yelling anymore.

"No," Red said quieting down. "And ya shouldn't have to. That's what friends are for. That is what me, and Prince, and all these other Queens kids who depend on you are for," he said quietly. "Sure maybe ya can take care of yaself, but it never hurt no one to ask for a little help now and then, and you… need to learn how ta do that yet, Snowball," he said quieter now.

Avalanche didn't know what to say, he just stared and then looked away, towards the ground.

"C'mon," Red said as he put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "We still have a lawyer to track down. One mission complete, yeah?" Red said.

Avalanche slowly looked over at his friend, and sighed before he looked down again. He had always been so determined of putting up a front. He was always so happy, so care free, and excited to be alive. Half the time, Avalanche was putting on an act. He figured if he ever, for once, appeared as though he fully lost hope, his kids would too. And he couldn't have that. He had so many secrets that were all at once coming out, and he wasn't proud of a single one of them. He was embarrassed that he had gone to these people for money. He was embarrassed that Red had to help him pay it back, and he couldn't do it on his own. Mostly, he felt horrible for what he had done to Prince.

"Red," he said with a sigh as he shrugged his friend's hand off of his shoulder. "C'mon…" Avalanche was slowly starting to lose hope. "Even though we figured out how the Warden found her, where we gonna find a guy like she wants to represent us?"

Red sighed, and was quiet for a moment. Then a thought occurred to him. "I think I know a guy who might know a guy who might help us out."

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A/N: This one's on time! Be proud of me, just a little. Alright, that's it for this week. I'll see you all on Monday with the next update. Have a great weekend!


	17. 17 No One

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 17: No One

Summary: After the turn of the century, as technology is beginning to become prominent in American society, the children of New York are still out working in sweat shops, running machinery, and selling news papers. However, growing up in New York can be dangerous, in many different ways.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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Come the next morning the boys were trying very hard, once again, to think. As it turned out, Prince demanded a lot of thinking on their parts. They had no idea how difficult this was going to be. Red and Avalanche sat a couple of blocks away from the lodging house. They were waiting for Thomas to show up. They hoped he had news. Where on earth were they going to find a straight talking lawyer that wouldn't need to be paid up front, but could be paid a lot later once Prince had they money… so long as he won the case? Should he lose, they'd never be able to pay the man. This was going to be much harder than Prince was anticipating they felt.

After a while, rather early that morning Thomas came by with a letter. "She had me come by early today," he explained," to bring you this." He produced a packet, a large envelope full of papers. "She said it was real important."

Avalanche was stunned as he took it from Thomas. "Uh… thanks?"

"Sure, no problem. You got anything to send back?" he asked.

"Uh… no… probably not today," Red said also staring at the envelope in Avalanche's hands.

"Okay!" Thomas got back onto his bike and gave a wave to the men. "See you boys later!" and with that he sped back off down the street to continue with his message delivery.

"Open it!" Red said after a few moments of silence.

Inside was a note on the top of the packet, and it said,

Boys, this is gold! I'm going to keep digging for more, but this alone, it should be enough to put the Warden away for a good long time! Take a look.

Good luck!

-Prince

Red took the note and Avalanche started looking through the books and records of numbers. It was a sort of grid set up. On the left of the page were categories such as food, clothing, bedding, activities, workers, and so on. Things and people required for the correct and operational maintenance of the refuge. In the boxes on the right were all sorts of dollar amounts showing how much money each area needed, how much they were allowed, the difference in the budget from one quarter to the other, and many other numbers that were written in by hand inside small boxes.

But then, way off on the right side of the page, on the margin and not inside the boxes, like the rest of the numbers, was a separate list. All the numbers were high, and none of them ended in zero. As the boys scanned down the page looking at the different dollar amounts $18, $46, $31, even one number as high as $117 from one department, they realized what those numbers were. Those were the numbers that Snyder was deducting and putting into his own pocket. He would take odd amounts out of every account it would seem to make the numbers in the boxes end in zero. It made keeping the books an easier task, and got rid of a few extra dollars here and there. It was a brilliant plan honestly.

"I can't believe it…" Red said as he stared at the sheet. "She found the records of the money he stole…"

Avalanche stared at them in shock. "And she's still lookin' for information?" He looked through the pages and found them all to be the same things, some for different years, some for the same years, most of them fairly recent.

What Prince was still looking for was the number of boys who were staying in the refuge to show how much money came in, and how much of it was used, because no list or count of that kind was included. Plus no where on the budget sheets the boys had were the unboxed numbers ever labeled, so it would be difficult to prove it as "money stolen."

"Well…" Avalanche said as he gathered up the papers and slipped them back into the envelope in which they'd been delivered, "I think it's high time we start findin' some kinda lawyer…" Avalanche pulled a penny out of his pocket, one of the few monetary pieces he still had to his name and handed it to a newsie for a newspaper. Who smiled, thanked him, and ran off.

"Yeah?" Red said as he leaned against a lamp post while Avalanche bought the paper. "How we gonna do that?"

"Iunno…" he said with a small sigh and he shook his head as he opened the paper. He scanned over the headlines and his eyes rested on one. "The Bronx Gaining in Popularity with Immigrants." But that wasn't what he was interested in. "Red… I think I got an idea." Red wasn't sure he wanted to hear this one, not after what happened yesterday.

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"Ya gotta know somethin'!" Avalanche said really hoping this kid could help them out. "You got more connections all over New York than anyone else I even know!"

Ace, the leader of the Bronx, and of course, long time friend of all Prince, Avalanche, and Red as well, shook his head. "I can't think of any straight talkin' lawyers Av, I'm sorry!"

Red sighed as he leaned back against the door. They'd walked all the way to the Bronx for dead end.

"Why'd ya come here anyway?" Ace said really not getting why they came to see him.

"You've got all the… connections. I thought maybe through the grapevine you'd heard of some kid or knew someone who would be able to help us out."

"I dunno no one who could help you out," Ace said as he shook his head again. "I might have connections, but you'd have a better shot askin' Spot down in Brooklyn. With all the little birdies chirpin' in his ear, maybe he's heard of somethin'."

Red's eye brows went up. How had he not thought about this before! It was ridiculous! Of course! "To Brooklyn!" And no sooner had he said that sentence then he started walking.

Avalanche, after thanking Ace, and attempting to say an extended goodbye, reluctantly followed the Red head. It wasn't that Avalanche didn't like Brooklyn, but the two boroughs weren't exactly best friends, which made Red and Avalanche's friendship rather odd. All the same, he pressed on towards the southern edge of New York City.

It took them most of the day to walk all the way down to Brooklyn from the Bronx, but by the time there they hoped it would be worth it.

Spot sat at his desk, feet up on the wooden table and chair tipping back. Avalanche was in a wooden chair back by the door, mostly relaxing and waiting, and Red still wasn't sitting down as he leaned against the wall.

"So," Spot said as he thought about it, fiddling with the key around his neck absent mindedly, "you wanna find a good lawyer that can help ya out huh?"

"Yeah…" Red said doing the talking this time. "We need someone ta help us Spot, do you know anything?"

"I know someone who might," he said looking at his elder with respect and a small nod. "Robin…" he stood up from his chair and walked to the door of his room. He opened it, letting the mass noise of the Brooklyn Lodging house sweep into the room in a rush. "Robin!" he called out into the mass of boys.

One young boy, a bit rugged in appearance, stood up from a card game. He didn't seem to have much muscle, but at the same time, he was surrounded by men who could have killed Avalanche if they wanted to, and he knew it too. So perhaps a kid like that standing next to Prince, Wit, or Two-Step… he'd probably look huge. He was careful to avoid the card game going on as he stepped over everyone. He walked over to Spot. He wasn't the tallest of the Brooklyn kids, but he was about a head over the Brooklyn leader. He had messy brown hair that was getting a little long, and light brown eyes. He had a kind enough face that you could trust him if he were to smile. However, he seemed to be the kind of boy that could switch between emotions and facial expressions at the drop of a hat. "What can I do ya for?" he asked. There was a slight British lilt to his voice as he spoke.

"Boys, this is Robin. This kid hangs around Columbia University all day," he explained. Robin was two things for Brooklyn. One, he was one of the informants, and his favorite place to stand around and listen was Columbia. Another was of how he truly got his name. Robin was known for taking things from people who had too much and giving them to those who didn't have enough, usually himself. But all the same, he found it a noble act, and he often did share with his fellow less fortunate Brooklyn friends. "Robin, this is Avalanche, former Queens, and Red, former Brooklyn."

"Evenin'," Robin said. "Pleasure," he said giving a specific nod and look to Red to show he meant respect. Avalanche had learned long ago to keep his trap shut in Brooklyn and allow Red to do all the talking and accomplish anything that needed to be done. It was safer that way, but he did give the kid a nod in greeting back.

"Tell 'im what ya need," Spot said as he sort of impersonated Red for a moment and just folded his arms and leaned back against the door frame. He didn't do it on purpose, it was just a common position for both of them to stand in. Like father like son.

"We're lookin' for a lawyer, or someone who can represent us," Red explained. "We need him to pretty much… win. We have all the evidence that he could need, and we'll provide him with more. But he's gotta be good, gotta know the rules. Here's the tough part, he has to be willing to take down a major person in this city," Red explained. "See our target is the Warden, Snyder," he explained. "He'll be paid, but not until the trial is over and we have all the money, but he will be paid."

Robin thought for a moment. "Yeah…" he said real slowly. "I think I know a couple of guys there. There's some seniors who are lookin' to get some court time in, so they'll do anything to win, and a few of 'em are pretty… different," he said with a shrug. By which he meant they weren't people he would steal from. They were nearly his friends, and they helped him when they could. These were kids who believed in justice, and not a corrupt system. "Listen," Robin said, "if ya gonna hang around tanight, I can take ya ta meet 'em tomorrow," he said with a shrug.

Red looked at Avalanche and Avalanche could only shrug back. At least they could go to their own apartment for the evening and be home for once in the last long while. "Sure," Red said. "We'll be back here around noon tomorrow," he promised.

"I'll take ya out then," Robin promised.

"Thanks," Red said to the boy and then turned to look at Spot. "And thanks to youse too."

Spot rolled his eyes, not needing any thanks, it was his job. "Dun mention it huh?"

Avalanche had to smile a little. Red chuckled a bit as well. "Alright, we'll be back tomorrow," Avalanche waved slightly and the two of them headed for the door to go home for the night. He hoped that Red knew what he was doing with this whole situation, and he really hoped that Robin's informants were going to be good ones.

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The next day, as promised, the two boys were out of their apartment, which was still a mess from them moving in, and were back at the lodging house by noon. Robin had finished selling his papers and agreed to take them across the Brooklyn Bridge to Columbia University to meet a few friends of his who were the true "justice men" on campus. It was a lovely warm day, not a cloud in the sky, but a very nice gentle breeze making it comfortable outside. The boys all had their long sleeves rolled up because it was comfortable enough to do so.

"There's a few of 'em and I know most of their names. There's Calvin," he said as he was thinking, "there's Walt, Len, Doyle, and Ronnie," he said. "These guys are the good ones," he promised.

Once they reached the University grounds, it seemed as though Robin had planned on meeting his friends in advance. They were outside, in the warm weather, and were playing some games of checkers. The boys were all in matching long black pants, white shirts, black vests and blue ties, and all of them were sitting on their jackets on stone benches. It looked as though everyone had a partner for their checker game except for Len, and when he saw Robin coming he waved his arm up high in the air. They were on the very edge of campus, in a small court yard. There was no one else around. These guys were probably, and if so then quite obviously, outcasts. The five didn't look like nerds, they didn't look weak, they didn't look stupid either. And it was for these reasons that they were outcasts. They were all fairly fit, only Calvin and Doyle were wearing glasses, and all of them were smiling enjoying life.

"Robin!" Len said as he called his friend over. Len still had his tie on straight, and his vest buttoned, but his shirt sleeves were rolled up. He had blonde hair and blue eyes and a sort of baby face, especially when he smiled.

"Afternoon Len!" Robin said greeting his Ivy League friend with a bright smile. "I want cha ta meet some friends of mine," he said. "This is Avalanche, and this is Red," he explained.

Len nodded and shook both of them men's hands (though he didn't spit in his, but neither did Avalanche and Red), and didn't hesitate, or wipe his hand off on his pants afterword, or anything. He didn't even look questioningly at the nick names. Avalanche was impressed. "Nice to meet you. Sorry, had I known you were coming I would have told Ron to bring his other checker board! We're full up."

"No," Robin said shaking his head with a grin. "these guys ain't here ta play, they need ta ask a favor. Gotta second?"

"Uh… sure thing," Len said a little confused. He hollered to his friends. "Hey! Come here for a second, okay? Robin needs a favor."

The other four guys finished the moves they were on and then gathered around the place where Robin was standing. Introductions were made again before Robin began to explain, "Okay these boys needs some help." He went into how they needed a straight talking lawyer. Someone who would help them win, accept payment later, believed they had the power to fight the corrupt system, and such.

Once Robin had finished explaining the boys all sort of glanced nervously around from one to the other. None of them seemed to want to step up to take the job. Avalanche's heart sank a little. If these kids weren't going to do it who would? By God, he swore none of them were going to be older than him, and if so not by much. Though they weren't all the same age, he guessed a few were older than others, and he figured some were probably done with their first four years and were now working on higher education.

"No one?" Red said finally speaking up a little. "No one wants to step up and actually do something worthwhile in this city?" he said. Red was, admittedly, slightly disgusted. "You've got the chance to take down an evil and powerful man, and no one wants to go out on the limb and try?" He was frustrated, he was tired, his emotions were at their end, and now some pompous little rich kids weren't going to help them! It was ridiculous, he was about fed up with this all, and was ready to go back and get Prince back with the rope again very soon.

"It's not that," Walt said as he hung his head a little. Walt was a taller boy. He was gangly and had long arms and legs. His face was very narrow and his brown hair seemed to just sort of sit on top of his head as though it weren't attached. He wasn't the best looking, but he did seem serious about his work. "I just don't think I could live up to what you want. I don't know if I could win it," he explained. And all the boys nodded their heads that this was their fear as well.

"We'll handle that! We'll practically hand you any and all evidence to lock this man up for years!" He promised them in a tired tone.

Robin looked at his friends hoping one of them would step up, and when none of them did he sighed.

Avalanche shook his head. "Alright well… thanks," Avalanche said as he turned away. So much for that idea.

"Wait," one said as he stepped forward. The three boys turned back to see Doyle a little ahead of the group. Doyle was a fairly handsome man. He was about five feet nine inches in height making him about average. He had a little more meat on his bones than some of the other boys did, but at the same time most of it was muscle. He had black rimmed glasses on his heart shaped face and blue eyes that were fierce and full of life and fire. His brown hair was just a touch too long and was messy. This boy not only had his vest open, but his tie wasn't tied anymore, shirt sleeves rolled up and a few buttons open on his shirt, of the group, he was most out of uniform. "Look," he said. "What if we all put our heads together, and worked on this case as a group?" he asked. "If we did it that way, then when it came time to get into court… we could be prepared. And if I have you all to help me…" he swallowed a little. "I'll even be the one who represents you in court," he said quietly.

Avalanche looked at Red who looked back at him and then both looked at Robin who was smiling a little, and then they smiled too. Doyle's plea was heard by the boys around him and as they thought about it, thinking that if they all worked together on this they would have a shot. They nodded in agreement. It would seem that Avalanche and Red had found five lawyers instead of just one! "Alright…" Avalanche said fully turning back to the group of boys. "Wanna see what we got so far?"

The five boys' smiles brightened as their excitement grew at the concept of having something to really sink their teeth into and some justice to charge.

Calvin took hold of the folder that Avalanche was carrying first and opened it. Calvin was a bit shorter, shorter than Robin even. He had glasses on his face that were a bit too big, and dark hair and eyes. His tie was still done up though his vest was unbuttoned. He even looked a bit young for law school though he was the proper age. "What are these?" he asked in a true tenor voice as he flipped through a few pages of the envelope's contents.

"Let me see that!" Ronnie said as he took the top few pages from Calvin. Ronnie was a bit better fed of the group. He was the largest of the boys, and was quite stout, being about Robin's height. He had short cut blonde hair a very circular face and green eyes. He looked a little closer at the papers in his hands and he reached up to loosen his tie a little bit more, he was feeling quite a bit warmer, so he undid the top two buttons on his shirt, although his sleeves were already rolled up a bit. "These look like a lot of number charts. Like accounting things… Len, this is your department my friend."

Len took the papers from Ronnie and looked at them. Doyle and Walt looked over his shoulders as he examined the sheets "These are budgets," he said. "What are these numbers off to the side?" he asked Avalanche and Red.

"We think," Avalanche said, "that those are the amounts of money that he stole out of the funds for the refuge."

The boys were all a little shocked at this concept. Truly they were untainted innocent minds who didn't believe the world capable of such corruption. But now that they knew of it, they were determined to write the wrongs.

Doyle nodded as he looked this all over. "Ya know," he said, "I think this can be handled quite easily," he said with a smirk. "Yeah, with a little more evidence like this, maybe we can win this case." He smiled at his friends who smiled back. Avalanche and Red couldn't have been happier. Now all they had to do was get more evidence from Prince, and in no time, this would all be over. And so it was that five law students were going to try to take down the Warden, one of the most powerful men in New York City, in all honesty, it was a long shot at best.

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A/N: My sincerest apologies. Summer classes absorbed all my life in the last week and I had literally not a free moment. For that reason after this update, you will get 2 more today, the one from Thursday that is owed, and the one from today (Monday) that will be as promised and on time. On the upside, we're nearing the end, so soon I won't forget all the time.


	18. 18 You Were Helping Him

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 18: You Were Helping Him

Summary: After the turn of the century, as technology is beginning to become prominent in American society, the children of New York are still out working in sweat shops, running machinery, and selling news papers. However, growing up in New York can be dangerous, in many different ways.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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Mary spent all of her free time going through file cabinet after file cabinet, reading unhelpful document, after unhelpful document, but occasionally she'd strike gold, and put it in a different file which she would hide between her mattresses in her room whenever her father was home. Everyone would help keep an eye out for her father. Julia would often watch while she wasn't cooking, and was sewing instead. Millie would keep an eye out while not cleaning, and enjoyed writing while she watched, or would go outside and tend the garden or beat the rugs, depending. Adam often spent time outside around back, so he didn't help keep watch often, but he always picked the lock for young Mary. All of them did all they could to help her.

The weekend approached once more, and Mary was searching for lists of children. She had found all sorts of other interesting and incriminating things from letters, to accountant notices, but no list of how many children were there at one time. And that was needed to show how much funding was received from each child, and how many weren't getting proper care because of it. But she was nearly through the files, and was on the brink of telling her friends to go ahead and summon her father to court.

It was Saturday and she was frantically thumbing through files, hoping she could find something she was looking for.

"Miss Mary!" Julia's voice rang through the house.

"Damn it," she cursed and quickly slammed shut the file she'd been going through. She grabbed her own file of collected documents, which she would need to send to the boys very soon, and ran out of her father's office, slamming that door behind her. She tucked the bulging file between her bed mattresses and slammed her door as well, as she ran towards the stairs. She quickly went into the parlor and sat down at the piano as though she had been practicing and began to play a Chopin mazurka.

Mister Snyder came in the door looking more tired than usual, and Mary simply continued to play the piano. She was acting as though she hadn't heard him come in when he appeared at the door of the parlor.

"Good evening Mary," he said quietly.

She looked up. "I didn't hear you come in," she said quietly and stopped playing. When she spoke to her father she attempted to hide her acquired street accent. She folded her hands in her lap. "Good evening," she said back.

"I've had a rough day, I'm going to go to bed early, please play quietly," he requested.

"Of course," she said with a small nod. He smiled at her a little and then left the door way. Mary then continued her playing a little quieter.

After Nigel had gone to bed Millie poked her head into the parlor. "That was odd."

"I know," she said allowing her accent to be more natural again. She found it was hard to hide it when her father was around. She sighed. "A whole evening of research ruined…" she said as she shook her head.

"Perhaps going to bed early tonight isn't a bad idea miss?" Millie offered as a suggestion.

"Maybe," she said with a shrug, her sleeping habits did get off when she would research until her eyes couldn't stay open anymore, and then sleep until Millie finally woke her up so she could continue her efforts. "But after dinner," she said with a smile to her friend.

With a nod of her curly head, Millie smiled back and went into the kitchen to inform Julia of the events, and the plans for dinner.

Mary did go to bed earlier that night, and was able to get some much needed rest. Though, before she fell asleep she stared up at the ceiling and allowed her mind to drift to Red once more. She missed that red headed boy more than she thought she would. She wished she could apologize to him in person for the horrible way she had treated him. She was just glad he understood, and was willing to help her. She assumed Avalanche had to talk him into it; Red was sort of stubborn after all. However, she was not thinking long before sleep claimed her.

Come the next morning Millie woke her up for breakfast with her father, where very little was said and for the most part they sat in silence. After breakfast was over Snyder stood up from the table and started for the stairs. Mary stood and discretely helped Millie clear the table. True, it was Millie's job, but Mary would rather help out. She didn't feel so badly if she helped.

However, a few moments later Snyder's footsteps could be heard hurrying down the upstairs hall way, and then down the stairs. Mary quickly sat down all dishes she was carrying and turned her back as though she had been heading for the piano in the parlor once again.

"Millie," Mister Snyder said entering the dining room. Mary stopped and turned around again to see her father rather spooked and yet angry at the same time. "Would you care to explain to me, why the door to my office is unlocked?"

Mary felt the color drain from her face as she had to fight to keep her eyes from going wide. No. She couldn't have forgotten to turn the lock on the inside of the door. That was always the first thing she did. When she would go into his office she would leave the door open, always, and would turn the lock from the inside so that if she had to run out suddenly, closing the door behind her would lock it. She hadn't forgotten, had she?

"I… I was in there cleaning sir."

"But why was it unlocked."

"I'm sure ye left it that way, when ye came home for a weekend, sir," she said trying to keep the shaking feeling that the rest of her body had out of her voice.

"I always lock that door Millie," he said harshly causing Mary to bite her tongue so she wouldn't get in trouble again. "How did it get open?"

"I don't know. I just tried the handle and it was open. I hadn't cleaned in there in a good while, so I thought I'd do it while you were out."

He was not accepting her answers. Apparently the idea that he could have forgotten to lock the door was so outrageous that there was no talking him into it. "How did the door get unlocked?"

"I opened it," Adam said stepping into the dining room, allowing Millie an escape behind him, with the dishes she had in her hands.

Mary could feel her heart beat speed up. Was Adam going to give them away? Had his conscious gotten the best of him? "Why?" Mister Snyder hissed at his employee.

"I thought I deserved more money, and went in search of it. I am truly sorry. I know that it was wrong, and if you look you will find no money missing. I do apologize. I had to come clean; my guilt was starting to get the best of me."

Snyder's face started turning red in anger. "Deserve more money?" he said in slight shock. "You are paid very well," he said glaring. "You tend horses that hardly get used. You live here on my dollar, and you think you deserve more money?"

"I'm sorry, sir, I was going to send it to my family." Mary was floored. Did Adam know what he was getting himself into?

"I'll hear no more of it," Snyder said with a glare. "Adam, I release you from your duties. Perhaps you could get more money elsewhere…" he then headed to the kitchen, and Mary, eyes ablaze followed after him. He was taking this too far.

"Ladies," he said looking from Millie to Julia. "I'm sure you knew that he was unlocking my office door and snooping around in there."

"I had no idea sir," Julia said playing shock. Julia had children to support, she could not afford to lose a job, or anything of the like. Millie was simply frozen in fear, unable to say anything.

"I'm sure you were helping him in fact."

"Never," Julia said quickly shaking her head. "Please sir," she said running to him. "I can't lose this job. Please, let me stay," she was practically begging him at this point.

But her pleas went unheeded. "Both of you may leave as well. I will not have my help stealing from me."

"Too far old man!" Mary said angrily confronting her father again. She stood in the door way of the kitchen with Adam behind her. Adam looked at the girl in shock as Snyder turned around to face his daughter once more.

Suddenly, behind the Warden, there was a crash, but he didn't turn to look. "Oh God, Julia," Millie said as she rushed to her side. The poor woman had fainted and dropped the dishes she'd been holding. Adam rushed past the family feud between Mary and her father, and went to tend to Julia.

"What was that young lady?" he said his voice just above a whisper, but his tone hard and angry.

"Too… far," she said glaring at him. "They weren't in there, I was. They were protecting me." Adam and Millie looked at Mary with a start, but she had a plan. "I was lookin' for somethin' from mom," she said, making up a lie as she went. "I thought she might have written to you, so I was in there lookin' for a letter… didn't find one though," she said.

"You were looking through those things? How dare you!" he said as his hand went up and came down slapping her, back handed, across the face causing her to whip her head to the side and then hold her cheek from the pain. She'd been spoiled, and her skin was getting soft living in this house. It hurt more that time than it had the first time.

"How dare you?" she counted right back as she took a step towards him. "Hurting innocent people, firing them for things they didn't do," she continued stepping forward, another step every other word forcing her father backward, "chasing innocent boys around the streets to try to capture them so your little establishment can make more money! Well I ain't standin' for it no more!" she said stopping when her father's back was against the back door. "You apologize, you give them their jobs back, and you stop it all now!" she insisted. Her hand was balled into a fist and out of fury she let it fly at her father. However, it was a sloppy punch and he could see it coming, since she had been so angry.

He grabbed her fist and squeezed her hand causing her finger nails to dig into the palm of her hand, and he didn't let up. "Don't you think you can try and tell me what to do young lady!" he shouted at her and then took his free hand and slapped her again. Quickly pulling her by the hand he started walking towards the cellar again. Mary kicked at him, screamed, made such a commotion that the neighbors would have wondered what was going on, if any of them were close enough to hear it.

He reached the door and flung it open before throwing her at the stairs again. She managed to catch herself this time before falling and turned around quickly to run back at him, but he just slammed the door and locked it instantly. So she began to pound. She screamed obscenities, words she could have only learned while living on the street, and called him every insult in English and in Gaelic. In the end, after nearly an hour of screaming, she couldn't do it anymore. Her throat hurt, her eyes hurt, her hands hurt, and her face hurt. She sat down at the base of the door and continued just pounding.

But everyone was gone. Snyder had sent everyone away, didn't give them a chance to say good bye, just had them collect their few things and go. And then he had left as well, going back to work. Mary was alone in the huge house, and there was no one to save her, and no one to make sure she was alright. She was all alone.

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The boys had, since their first meeting received another package from Prince. She sent a few more things, but not near as much as she had the first time, and a note.

I'm still looking for lists of kids who stayed here, or at least numbers. Something. I'll be in touch, but I'm almost through the files. Keep working boys. I am counting on you. I trust you both. Stay safe.

-Prince.

They were down at Columbia almost every day working with the boys on the case. The five scholars loved the thrill and enjoyed the work; they spent every minute of their free time working on it. Robin would also come down and assist often. He delighted in saying, "When we get through with this court business, I'm gonna bash that Warden's head in!" and it would always make the students laugh.

However, a few days went by and the boys hadn't heard much from Prince. They hadn't received a letter in a few days, and they were sure that she had to have found something by now. Red got worried. "What do you think is wrong?" he asked.

"She's probably just got a lot more to go through than she thought. Don't be too worried because it's been two days since her last letter."

"Yeah… I guess you're right," he said and chuckled a little as he shook his head.

However, come the next day Thomas arrived at the lodging house. "Hey boys!" he said with a grin. "I brought you somethin' today." And in the door walked Millie.

The two boys didn't know who she was, so they were simply confused. As Millie entered the lodging house she looked around. The place was a mess, it could use a good cleaning, and the boys a good meal, she could tell. She was nearly heartbroken at the thought that young Mary had been living here since she had run away. The poor girl.

"Can we help youse?" Avalanche asked folding his arms across his chest.

Millie looked to Avalanche her eyes a little spooked and her hands a little shaky. She was obviously not exactly as comfortable in the presence of these boys as Prince was. All the same she tried to compose herself, and her courage, as she said, "Mary's in trouble."

Red rushed forward without a second thought. "What happened? Where is she? Is she okay?"

"Calm down…" Avalanche said coming up behind his friend to put a hand on his shoulder. "Thomas," he said looking to the delivery boy. "Is there anything else?"

"Nope, she's it," he said.

"Thank you then," he said with a nod. Thomas gave a small salute and then was out the door once more.

"Now, Miss, what's your name?"

"My name is Millie sir," she said to Avalanche, who was being very calm and understanding at the moment. She sort of admired him for that. "I used to work for Mister Snyder."

"Used to?" Red questioned finding her choice of words rather odd.

"Yesterday the whole lot of us were fired," she explained. "He found the door to his office unlocked…" she was very upset about it, but wasn't crying. She was too strong to do that. "He fired all of us thinking we were trying to steal from him. When Mary stood up to him, he sent her into the cellar and locked the door. He then sent us all away and went back to work. I'm sure she's still locked in there. Today, I found Thomas and stopped him before he reached the house, and told him to bring me to you. Julia said she was going to make the poor girl some food and take it to her today, but it's all at the risk of getting caught ye see."

The two boys looked at the girl, blinking, trying to take in all she had just said. Millie sighed and said, "We need to get her out. I know she was almost done with those files, and if she could just get through the last cabinet I think ye'd have all ye'd need."

"Red," Avalanche commanded. "You're going to go to Manhattan with Millie. Get there quickly as you can and get Prince outta that cellar." Millie looked confused when they called Miss Mary, Prince. What on earth was that about? "I'm gonna go down town and talk to the boys. We need to get this trial to happen now," he said fiercely.

"Right," Red said nodding, and understanding his instructions perfectly. "C'mon miss Millie. M'name's Red, You're comin' with me," he said to her.

Avalanche without another word headed for the door and quickly started making his way south from Queens, through Brooklyn, to lower Manhattan, while Red and Millie went towards the richer neighborhoods to go and save Mary. At least this time they wouldn't need a rope.

Millie looked concerned. "I'm jus wonderin'," she said rather boldly to the tall red headed man walking beside her, "should ya get caught, wouldn't that sort of ruin ye case?" she asked.

"Guess we can't get caught then huh?" Red said trying to give Millie a brave smile. Truth be told he was scared as nothing that Mary was hurt again, another bruise on her forehead, or worse. He wanted to run, but didn't want to leave this girl behind. They went as quickly as they could.

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"Gotcha," Doyle said with a nod. "We'll get this going as soon as we can," he promised Avalanche. "Boys, let's get this paperwork started. We're going be suing the Warden," he stated proudly.

The boys instantly started rushing around to get forms, make propositions, and get everything in line. "Say," Doyle said as he walked over to Avalanche. "You never did say, what you got against the Warden anyway?"

Avalanche shrugged a little and sighed. "He hurt one of our friends, and we think it's high time we get him back."

Doyle knew he shouldn't push his luck but he couldn't help it. "How… how you getting' all this information then?"

He looked at Doyle. The kid might as well know. It would have to come up in the trial sooner or later anyway. So he started explaining the story of Mary, running away, and then getting caught again. At the end of it Doyle laughed. "So the Warden really does have a daughter? She's alive?" he said a little surprised.

"You knew? I didn't think most of New York knew."

"Oh I know."

"How do you know about Mary Ann Snyder?"

"Now that, my friend, is a long story…but I got time…"

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A/N: One more chapter will be posted before today (Monday) is over. Just keep your eyes open, and thanks for readin'!


	19. 19 If You Must

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 19: If You Must

Summary: After the turn of the century, as technology is beginning to become prominent in American society, the children of New York are still out working in sweat shops, running machinery, and selling news papers. However, growing up in New York can be dangerous, in many different ways.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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The rebellious side in Prince came out again as she sat in the basement, trying to configure ways to escape. She didn't think it would be any use calling out from the cellar, she's not sure that anyone in that neighborhood would have helped her. Unfortunately, she was finding it difficult to think of ways out. The window was too small for her to fit through, calling out would do no good, so then it was back to her other only way out, the cellar door. She was attempting to find something to pick the lock, but wasn't having any luck. It occurred to her that there was a chair down in the basement, so she turned it over and started to work one of the nails out of the leg of the chair. This was proving to be quite difficult due to her lack of tools.

The young Prince had spent the morning waiting for Thomas, so imagine her confusion when she never saw him come by the house. Perhaps he was busy, perhaps he was intercepted. And at that idea she didn't even want to think of the horrid things that would happen to him, if he were to be found out. She put Thomas out of her mind and went back to work on the chair.

Meanwhile, Millie and Red were making their way back towards the Snyder household once more. Neither of them were talking really, and Millie was having a harder time keeping up the longer they walked. However, Red simply refused to stop all together, at least moving forward they would continue to make progress. His mind was focused on one thing, helping Prince. When the house came into sight, he had to make himself walk slowly to keep with Millie. She noted his efforts and smiled slightly. "Go on ahead, Mr. Red. I'll be there shortly."

"No, it's fine… I'll stay back and walk with you." Besides that, he was worried that their talking might be awkward considering how they left each other the last time. He had been the stubborn one, the one not willing to listen to reason. He wanted her out, but he didn't think about the long term of making everyone a little safer, not just Mary. He was a little worried of what she might think of him.

Millie however, read Red's face like an open book. "Ya know, _Is neamhbhuan cogadh na gcarad; má bhíonn sé crua, ní bhíonn sé fada."_

Red thought about this for a moment… 'a fight between friends never lasts long, no matter how bad the fight.' Red slowly understood. Prince must have told Millie what had happened. He smiled. "Which window?"

"The one around back, over the fence, at ground level. The other window is the boiler room, and ya won't be seein' Miss Mary there."

He nodded. "Thank you," and then was off like a shot. Millie giggled a little more, and then slowed her pace, she was tired. How was it that boy walked fast, and he wasn't tired in the slightest and was now able to run the last block to the house? Oh yes, he was a newsie.

With his running start Red propelled himself over the fence and quietly landed in the grass on the Warden Snyder's property once again. He went around the back and stayed down low and quiet. He walked a little slower, and a bit more cautious. After all, it was broad daylight, and anyone could see him if they wanted too. Thankfully, most people in this neighborhood were out at work, or school at this point in the day. So he should be fine.

Quietly he crept over to the window and laid down on the lawn on his stomach and gazed in the cellar window and there he saw her. She was sitting on the floor, still working on a nail in the chair. She'd chipped her nails so badly trying to get that thing out, she almost had no nails left on her hands, and they were on the verge of bleeding, and she was cursing up a storm in a distinct Queens New York accent. He couldn't be more proud of her at that moment.

_"_Mavourneen," he said just loud enough for her to hear through the glass of the window, and Prince froze on the floor, was she hallucinating? Red smiled as he could visibly see her go rigid. He put a hand to the window, and it pushed open, swinging upwards toward the ceiling. "Mavourneen," he called to her again.

Prince slowly turned her head to look up at him and smiled. No hallucination, that was for sure. All at once she picked up the chair, and set it down against the wall, right under the window. She stepped up onto it and kissed him again.

Red had not been expecting that, but he smiled into it all the same, and kissed her back.

She wasn't going to lie to him, she'd been so scared that he hated her. That all her notes had been in vain, and that he had lied to her to make her happy, and then gone away again. Not that she could exactly blame him, if that had been his decision. But seeing him there now, proved all her fears wrong, and confirmed that she was safe once again.

After a moment Red pulled back and smiled at her. "…I never got to tell you, I miss your long hair."

Prince chuckled a little and shrugged as she brought a hand up to her head. "Yeah… me too," she said quietly. "But it'll grow."

"Yeah," he said quietly and then cleared his throat. "How you feelin'?"

She could only shrug. "Oh, fine. Hungry and a little worn down, but I'm alright. No more major bruises," the one on her face was fading a little, though the one that he couldn't see, on her arm, was still quite prominent. This had been from the rough handling of the Warden the day before. He didn't need to know about that right now. Besides her arm felt basically back to normal by now anyway.

"You wanna… come outta there?" he asked cautiously. He didn't want to make her angry again.

Millie appeared behind Red and suddenly Prince understood everything. Why Thomas hadn't come by that morning, why Red was there now, what had happened. Millie had saved her again.

The young Prince nodded her head slowly and smiled. "Yeah," she said, "if it ain't too much trouble."

Red smiled at her and shook his head. "Sit tight. We'll work on it." He then got himself to his feet and ran towards the front door.

"Millie!" Prince called before Millie had a chance to run after him. The young Irish girl knelt down by the window. "Thanks."

"Of course Miss," she said with a soft smile. And she then stood up to run after red. "Mr. Red, I have a hair pin you can use!" she called.

"Perfect! Lemme see," he said. Millie handed the hair pin to him, and he instantly got to work picking the front door.

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Avalanche and Doyle were sitting on one of the benches in the outdoor courtyard. Walt and Robin were over having a conversation about court room procedure on another bench. All the other boys had run their separate directions to cover all their bases and get to work on everything that needed to happen to get the trial underway.

"So," Avalanche said, arms folded across his chest, "you wanna explain to me now, how you knew about Miss Snyder?"

"Sure," Doyle said with a shrug. "Because I'm her fiancé."

Avalanche stared at him for a moment and then tilted his head to one side. It was quite the news to take in. "…huh?"

Doyle laughed a little. "Mary Ann Snyder, a long time ago was betrothed to Curtis Doyle, that's me. When we were little, our parents looked for people of similar status to arrange a marriage. I remember just a few years ago when I heard that Miss Snyder had been kidnapped. I had never really met her, that I can recall, so I pretty much assumed then and there that she had either died, actually been kidnapped, or never really existed in the first place. The people in the neighborhood were the only ones who really knew about her in the first place, and her school mates I'm sure. But after she was gone, Mr. Snyder didn't really talk about her much, and just looked for her. He was all alone in that big house, just him and his servants, and half the time he wasn't there, so people in the neighborhood really started to wonder about him and his sanity. Thought he was a little crazy, with the loss of his wife and daughter and all. I guess I was always pretty sure that she was real, just never having met her, and never really knowing her, the only indication I have of her, is what her father's like. Quite frankly, and no offense, but I was not looking forward to marrying her."

Avalanche had to take a moment to think about all this. It was a lot to take in. To think that his Prince was technically engaged. "…when was the wedding set for?"

"They said it would be the summer that she turns seventeen, and I graduate from college," he said with a shrug. Meaning, that it wouldn't be the current summer, but next summer. So the wedding was technically an entire year away.

"…huh. Well…" Avalanche didn't really know what to think about that. "And so you're okay taking down the warden? This might mean that you don't marry uh… Mary."

"Well, if she's anything like her father-"

"She's not, okay?" Avalanche said rather quickly, and cutting Doyle off. "Mary ain't nothin' like the warden. She's kind, she's smart, she's fast, she's quick witted, and funny, and she cares about people."

"Sounds to me like you wanna marry her," Doyle said folding his arms across his chest.

Avalanche cocked an eyebrow and laughed. "No, no, no, you got me all wrong buddy. I'm one of her best friends. She and me ain't gettin' married neither."

Doyle shrugged. "All the same, I think I'd prefer not to marry someone that I don't really know, you know?"

He shrugged. "Yeah I suppose that makes sense. You got someone else you got your heart set on?"

Doyle couldn't help but shrug again and smile a little. "Sorta, but I never pursued it, 'cause I knew that I didn't really have a choice."

"But now ya do," Avalanche reminded him.

"Yeah," he said with a grin, "now I do." He chuckled. "I'm sorta excited to meet this girl now. Mary Snyder. See what she's really like."

Avalanche smirked and couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Yeah, she's pretty neat, you might actually like her."

Doyle laughed. "Wouldn't that be somethin'?"

"So," Avalanche said as he stood up. "you're really okay takin' out the Warden?"

"Yeah," Doyle said as he stood up beside him. "Ya know, no body, no matter if they're your potential father in law, has the right to hurt people like the way I hear the warden has hurt these kids," he said nodding. "Someone ought to bring him to justice, and I'd be just fine with it being me."

"Good to hear," Avalanche said. The two of them started walking, discussing witnesses, and such. The trial was going to be soon, and they needed to plan!

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It didn't take long before Red had broken in through the front door. And then the cellar door was simple after that. Prince ran up the stairs, and as soon as the door swung open she pushed it aside and jumped into Red's arms where he hugged her back just as tightly. All the feelings and ideas from their fight a few days ago where gone, and suddenly, they remembered that they were sort of in love.

The two of them didn't move for quite some time. Millie began going through the house and collecting more of her things that she had had to leave behind before. After a while they finally released each other. "Okay," Red said grabbing her hand, "let's get outta here!"

"Wait," Prince said holding her ground. "I only have one more cabinet to go through… and there's a few files under my bed. Red I'll give you all that, but then I need to stay here."

Red sighed. Not this again. "Why?"

"Because, if I go to the trial with you… they'll know that you broke in, you broke the law too-"

"To save you!"

"They won't care," she said calmly shaking her head.

Red opened his mouth to protest, but then shut it again and sighed. Unfortunately, he knew she was right.

"Stay with me here until I have everything for you. But then you have to go. Unfortunately, chances are good that my father will be home later to let me out or check on me, or something. But, if you must, you can hide in my room."

Red nodded, he understood. "I'll do what I can to help," he promised her.

"Then you can start by picking the lock to his office door again."

He smiled and the two of them raced up the stairs so that Mary could finish the project she had started.

The rest of the day went as normal. Millie stayed in the house and kept a low profile, and helped Mary cook, and they both were very quiet and ready to jump at every sound, thinking each squeak and potential foot step was the warden, returning home. Red left an hour or so after he had arrived with the conclusion of the evidence in hand, including the numbers of the refuge residents that Mary had been searching for all that time. He headed directly to Columbia, and that afternoon, the court summons was mailed.

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Mr. Snyder, while sitting at his desk the next day was thumbing through the mail, and found a letter.

"Dear Mr. Warden Nigel Snyder

Your presence is required at the New York City court house in Manhattan tomorrow, June 16th, 1900, at 9:00 a.m. You are being sued for wrongful treatment of refuge residents, and unlawful acquisition of funds from the refuge budget for personal gain. You will be tried under judge E.A. Monahan. Please do not be late Mr. Snyder.

Signed,

The Law Office of New York, New York,  
>Curtis Doyle, Studying Attorney at Law,<br>Alexander Johnson & Collin Russiani"

The warden crumpled up the paper and threw it in the trash. He was instantly contacting his best lawyers to represent him. Not that he was expecting a difficult case. The judge pardoned him before, he'd do it again for more money, the Warden was sure. And with this, he was hoping to put these two boys away as well, for a good long time, then they'd be out of his hair. And good riddance to the lot of them.

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A/N: And that's all for today (Monday). I should really be back on Thursday again with yet another update. Slowly but surely we're approaching the end. And I hope you're as excited as I am. Thanks for reading!


	20. 20 Tell Us

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 20: Tell Us

Summary: After the turn of the century, as technology is beginning to become prominent in American society, the children of New York are still out working in sweat shops, running machinery, and selling news papers. However, growing up in New York can be dangerous, in many different ways.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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Though it wasn't her first choice, Mary stayed at her house alone that evening rather than going home with Red. Millie helped her select an outfit to wear the next day, and then she left as well. After all, she was no longer an employee, and if she were to stay, she'd only get herself in trouble. So Mary stayed alone in the house for a while. She sat at the piano and plunked out a few notes with a sigh, just trying to preoccupy herself. For what it was worth, she did enjoy being home where there was a piano she could play. But it was no replacement for Jem, for Two-step, and Wit. Suddenly her mind went to the night of the fire and she couldn't help but feel her heart ache again as she remembered Shark and Dice and Keys. Those boys had been some of her best friends, and she'd grown up with them. Why did there have to be a fire? Why did they have to leave? The longer she sat and thought about it the more she wondered why any of this had to happen. Why couldn't life continue on, boring and uneventful in Queens with her friends, and her true family, the boys that cared about her, and that she cared for in return.

She sighed as a small realization crossed her mind. All things must come to an end, be them good or bad, all things will come and go. It's how one continues after the events that is the important thing. All stories have an ending, but there's no true end to much of anything really, except maybe life. But whenever something ends, something new has got to be allowed to start, even if all that starts is a massive confusion and fumbling around until you can get on a clear steady path again. She didn't know what the future had in store for her, but she hoped that the path would be smoother for a while after this. She hoped she'd get lucky, and this would all end well, though she really couldn't say, there must be some sort of reason that this happened. She was only hoping that the reason was a good one at this point. She prayed that all this time and hard work wasn't in vain.

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Mary went down to the cellar to sleep that night, since that's where the Warden left her. She even locked the door behind her. She figured that if worse came to worse, Millie could probably break in now and get her to the trial. They had worked that out before Millie had gone home. Sometime after her going to bed, probably closer to midnight, the Warden came home as well. He'd spent all evening discussing things with his lawyers, and colleagues, and so on. He figured they were prepared for any sort of accusation tomorrow, and the trial would be a breeze. He went to bed content with that idea, and slept just fine.

Come the next morning Mr. Snyder woke up and a little earlier and went down stairs. He unlocked the cellar door and went down stairs to wake up Mary. She had just been sleeping on the floor. Honestly, it wasn't all that bad or different from her bunk back at the lodging house, so she didn't mind much.

Mr. Snyder leaned down and shook her gently to wake her up. She tiredly gazed up at her father and he stood up again. "Mary," he said in a firm but rather gentle tone, "I am going to court today, and I need you to come with me. So get up and get ready, alright?"

Mary didn't answer, she just gave a nod and instantly started to stand up. Satisfied with that answer Mr. Snyder returned upstairs and resumed getting ready. Without a word, a moment later, Mary followed after him, and started to get ready with the clothes they'd picked out the day before and all. She got herself ready as she could and would and then went out into the hall and down stairs to find her father.

The two didn't say a word as they walked outside and Snyder got a taxi to take them to the New York City Court House. The trial was set for nine o'clock in the morning, and they would be there plenty early.

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As for the boys down at Columbia, they worked through the night gathering everything they thought they might need, getting every piece of evidence, labeling it. Avalanche and Red slept however. Though Red found it rather difficult to do so. He wished so badly that he wasn't where he was, and that he could be with Prince instead.

Come the next morning the boys shoved everything into Doyle's briefcase and Avalanche and Red had the boys tie their ties. It was rather odd being in jackets and such in such nice weather, and Avalanche felt as though he was being gagged by the wrenched things as he reached up to loosen his multiple times. Red couldn't help but laugh. He understood they took a little getting used to.

"Be careful," Walt said giving the boys advice for the courtroom. "You don't wanna say anything to make the judge upset. You need to impress the jury too so try and talk as articulately as possible."

"…as what?" Avalanche said rather confused.

"Talk normal," Ronnie said rolling his eyes. "None of this, 'oy I got me a new yawk accent bidness!'"

Avalanche and Red exchanged a look and then laughed out loud at Ronnie's accent. "We get it," Avalanche assured them. Then all of them, Robin included, headed out towards the New York City Court House. Avalanche had sent word with Thomas back home, that, if they wanted to, Two-Step, Jem, Rylet, and Wit could come to the trial, so long as Wit was feeling better, but if Wit couldn't come, the other boys had to stay home. So of course they'd all be there.

Millie had heard about it as well, having gotten the information from Red, and she passed the message on to Julia and Adam who vowed to be in attendance, no matter what.

The court room was a little fuller than the average trial, but not bursting at the seams due to the limited audience that had been informed of the event. Most of the people there were sitting on the side of the plaintiff. Mary sat down beside her father, on the defendant's side. She basically had to, for now. She figured that she could see everyone at least from there. She did sit on the aisle so she could greet everyone somehow.

Once the Snyder family arrived, those next to walk in were Mr. Snyder's lawyers, witnesses and so on, which mostly consisted of workers at the refuge, and fellow police officers. Next to make their entrance to the hall, hair slicked back, suits buttoned up were all the boys from Columbia accompanied by Avalanche, Robin (who wasn't quite as nicely dressed as the other boys), and Red. The lawyers and her father paid them no mind, but Prince had to hide her excitement and smile. Avalanche gave her a little smile and a wave and Robin hardly looked at her at all. Red couldn't stop himself from giving her an endearing look and a small wink. However, it was Doyle who moved towards her as the others walked by.

He offered a hand to her. "Miss Snyder I presume?" Mary nodded and accepted his hand. "I'm Curtis Doyle." For a moment Prince's blood ran cold. Oh god. She was doomed! He noticed the panic on her face, guess she knew who he was then, and leaned towards her to quietly whisper, "Don't worry Prince, I'm on your side." And now she was just confused. What? So he was a good guy now? Well, she considered that good news, but all the same, she was a little nervous. She forced a smile on her face and Doyle gave a small nod before turning away. Prince shot a panicked look at Red and Avalanche who only smiled back at her. She had no need to worry, they just couldn't tell her that.

At this point everyone else who said they would be there slowly trickled in. Millie, Julia and Adam came in with a smile and sat behind Mr. Snyder for appearances mostly. The boys from Queens came in next. Rylet was holding Jem's hand. They had obviously told the boy that he had to be quiet once they went into the court room, no talking allowed. But when he saw Prince he gave an enthusiastic wave. She only smiled a little and waved back, before putting a finger over her lips motioning to him to be quiet. He nodded and did it back to her, which made her smile. Smart kid.

It was only a minute later that the bailiff announced for all to rise as Judge E.A. Monahan entered the courtroom, once again. Prince was so scared for what might happen she could feel her legs shaking. She took a deep breath, and hoped that it would all be okay.

The trail started off in a usual manner, opening statements where Mr. Doyle spoke quite clearly that he intended to prove that Mr. Snyder had been stealing money from the refuge and pocketing it for his own gain. He also intended to prove that the children there were being mistreated. Of course, Mr. Snyder was pleading not guilty, so the lawyers on his side stated how they intended to prove that he had done nothing of the sort.

A few witnesses were called up by the defense. All of them were strongly for Mr. Snyder and in his favor. It made cross examining them very difficult on Doyle's part because he could hardly get a negative word out of them. But finally, Ms. Snyder was called to the stand.

"Tell us," Mr. Snyder's lawyer said, "have you ever been in the refuge Miss?"

"No," she stated simply.

"So you have no idea what it's like living there first hand."

"No, but I've heard-"

"A simple yes or no answer will be fine thank you Miss."

Mary sighed. "No."

"Do you know how much money your father makes at his job?"

"No," she said honestly. She didn't like that question.

"Do you believe your father steals from the refuge he works at?"

"Yes."

The lawyer cocked an eyebrow as Avalanche and Red smiled. "Why do you think that?"

"Because of how nice everything he owns is, he wouldn't be able to afford that on his salary."

The lawyer laughed. "But you just said you don't know how much your father makes."

That was true… "Yeah, but still-!"

"No further questions your honor."

Mary glared daggers at the man's back as he went to sit back down.

It was then Doyle's turn to talk to Mary. "Mary, how long have you lived at home?"

"I don't understand."

"In the last six months how long have you lived at home?"

She shrugged. "A few weeks," she said honestly.

"And in those few weeks, were you happy?"

"Not really, no."

"Why?"

She looked at him and then glanced over at her father, then to Red and Avalanche and then back to Doyle. "My father was rarely home. And when he was home he not only mistreated his staff, but me as well."

"Objection," Mr. Snyder's lawyer stood. "Do we have any proof of mistreating the staff or Miss Snyder?"

The judge looked to Doyle who said, "Just one and not the other."

"Then elaborate, Mr. Doyle," the judge said.

Doyle nodded and turned his attention back to Prince. "Miss, can you tell us what happened while you were living at home?"

Mary thought a moment. "I was forced away from my friends. Not physically forced, but they were threatened in other ways. Uh, Anyway," she was getting flustered because she didn't want to mess this up. "Once we got home I sorta… talked back to my father I guess, and he threw me down into the cellar for a night to sort of fend for myself. He hurt my arm," she said as she rolled back her dress collar showing the still barely visible bruise on her shoulder from where her arm had been dislocated. "And you can barely see it now, but when it first got put there it was real purple…" she took a deep breath. "After that he wasn't around much. Just a couple of days ago he found his office door unlocked and fired all the staff and put me down in the cellar again. He let me out just this morning."

"No more questions your honor," Doyle said and turned to go sit down. The judge told Mary that she could step down and she did so.

"Your honor," Doyle continued, "at this time I'd like to present some evidence to the discretion of the court," he said. He returned to his brief case as his school mates begin to exchange excited glances at one another.

Slowly but surely Doyle pulled out piece after piece of paper of critical evidence. Showing the numbers on the side of the budget sheet. The lawyers on the side of Mr. Snyder were able to react to almost every piece of evidence he picked up. But then, Doyle produced another piece of paper.

"Here," he said, "is a list of people living in the refuge when it was at its highest capacity. There were 30 boys living here at once. Mind you, it can only hold 35. I'd like you to compare the finances of this year to that of the year previous." He pulled out two more sheets of paper and handed them to the jury to examine. "You see, in the far nonexistent column the numbers have increased. You'll notice that the previous year when there were only 24 boys living there the numbers were lower.

"This leads us to the conclusion that the numbers on the far right were exactly how much Mr. Snyder was taking out of the funds for the refuge and pocketing for himself. Included along with this are food order sheets from year to year where the quantity of food only rose enough to cover another four children, not six. As for new bed sheets that were order that year, only two new sets were ordered instead of the standard 6 that were needed as well, we assume that the rest were recycled. And while yes, we understand that these children are being disciplined they should not be mistreated to the point of misery. After all, your honor, children are children," he slowly turned towards Jem who he noticed sitting in the courtroom, "children deserve to eat enough to grow and fulfill their potential, even if they misbehave. I can't imagine that you'd want your children to be treated this way," he said turning back around to the judge. He then turned towards the jury. "Discipline my good people is one thing, mistreatment is quite another."

The jury began mumbling to one another and Doyle went to sit down. The judge hit his gavel against the stand once before turning back to Doyle. "Mr. Doyle, it is your witness."

"I'd like to call Mr. Alexander Johnson to the stand." With that Avalanche stood and went towards the stand.

"Mr. Johnson, have you ever been in the refuge."

"No, but my brother has," he said loudly enough and 'articulately' enough for everyone to hear and understand him.

"And what did he say about it?"

"He said he was always hungry. Worse than when he was out making his own money. He was even dirtier there than he had been at the lodging house where he at least had water to clean himself every day. He'd gotten lice from the boys there, which of course meant that everyone in the lodging house had to catch it," he chuckled slightly which made Red smile. "But we got rid of that. Which is funny-"

"Thank you," Doyle cut him off. He didn't want Alex getting them into trouble. Not that anything Alex was going to say would, but he didn't want his fears to come true. Though all he was going to say was that he found it funny that a lodging house was able to rid itself of lice, but a refuge couldn't do the same. However, it had no relevance. So the case moved on.

"No further Questions," and Doyle sat down.

Mr. Snyder's lawyers then stood up. "Mr. Johnson," the man said, "can you tell, did you acquire these documents?"

"Yes," he said nodding slightly.

"How?"

"They were sent to me."

"By whom? And remember you are under oath."

"I can't say for sure. I received them via messenger boy and didn't actually see the person face to face while I was receiving the documents."

"Do you have any guesses?"

"Well," Avalanche said leaning back and thinking about it. "Since these are all files and documents on the refuge, I can only assume they'd be kept there. So I would figure that someone who lived or worked there got into the archive files and looked through them."

"But how would they know to send them to you?"

Oh no. A question he wasn't ready for. But he covered quite well. All he did was shrug. "Being a newsie, you make some connections," he said as he folded his hands and put them behind his head leaning back in the chair. It made the boys in the courtroom chuckle and the lawyers roll their eyes.

There was a brief pause before the lawyer said, "no further questions."

Avalanche was allowed to step down.

Doyle stood up and said, "I have no further witnesses your honor."

"Closing statements? Mr. Doyle, you may go first."

Doyle remained standing and walked around the table. "Overall, I would like to point something out. Even if this man didn't steal any money, the obvious mistreatment of the children who live in the refuge should be apparent. If a man has no problems hurting his own daughter, then why would he stop himself from hurting anyone else's children, especially those that have no mothers and fathers to report it to? The refuge is not a safe place for children even those that are being disciplined, while he is around. You understand it is children like these," Doyle said as he motioned to the newsies who were in attendance, and then to Millie and then to Prince, "who are our future. They will be making the decisions and pulling the weight and creating this city and this country into what it will be. If we are inhumane to them, it will only continue on for years, and I don't think America, the place that welcomes those who are fleeing from their country, looking for a land of prosperity, wants to be known for mistreating it's children." Doyle then moved to his chair and sat down once again.

"Defendants," the judge said turning to Mr. Snyder's lawyers, it's your turn."

One man stood up and said, "The children may be our future, but we are the ones controlling the present. The children who are in the refuge deserve what they get. These children are the ones who stole, who did wrong. The important thing to note here is that they mistreated others to put themselves into this place. They were the ones who took the money, who hurt someone, who took someone else's life wrongly. These children are not equal to yours and mine for they are criminals. If they are in the refuge, they deserve to be there. The defense rests.

The judge nodded and announced to the courtroom, "there will be a brief recess while the jury deliberates. Please everyone return in twenty minutes for the verdict." With that he slammed his gavel down and stood up to make his exit as the jury did the same.

No one was quite sure what to think. Unfortunately both sides put up quite a good fight. Prince was scared. What if it didn't work? What if her plan fell through? She swallowed hard and tried not to think about it. She stood up but didn't budge from her spot. She didn't want to leave until this was all over, and she knew who she was going to be, be it a life she'd be forced to live, or a life she wants to live.

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A/N: Another one comin' at you today, due to me being late and all again. Weekends go by fast these days. However, summer is almost over, so that means this story is too. Stay tuned, you really won't want to miss the end of this one!


	21. 21 And Now Here is Your Prize

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 21: And Now Here is Your Prize

Summary: After the turn of the century, as technology is beginning to become prominent in American society, the children of New York are still out working in sweat shops, running machinery, and selling news papers. However, growing up in New York can be dangerous, in many different ways.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask.

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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Eventually, Prince made up her mind to go outside and enjoy the summer air. She hadn't been out in a while to really enjoy herself anyway. She leaned back against the stone wall and stared up at the sky. She saw a couple of birds fly by through the clouds as someone tapped her on her right shoulder. She turned to look but found no one there.

"Gotcha," Red whispered in her left ear as she turned the other way to look at him. She smiled faintly, but had a hard time making it convincing. He could tell. "How you doin'?"

She shrugged. "Nervous," she said honestly.

"Dun blame ya," he said with a small nod as he leaned back beside her. However, he kept enough distance so as not to concern or alert those around them. All the same, in his current outfit, no one really found it odd they were standing by each other.

"So… Mr. Curtis Doyle…" she said giving him a sideways smile.

"He's a good guy," he said nodding a little. "I was surprised… we all were really. But the guys down at Columbia did a good job and were willing to help us out when… no one else would I guess."

She nodded. "It was admirable, not half bad at all," she said slowly nodding her head.

Suddenly something caught the corner of her eye and she turned her head to see what it was, but when she did she didn't see anything. Red noticed her quick movement. "What?"

She shook her head. "Thought I saw something," and she looked up at the sky once more.

"Prince!" she looked back down the street and saw Ace, he hadn't been there a second ago, or maybe he had. She smiled, but didn't make any indication that she knew him. Ace was suddenly shoved forward as Jack stepped into view. The two leaders made their way towards Red and Prince.

"Ya idiot," Jack said, "they dun know her as Prince around here… gotta call her somethin' else."

"Mary," she said with a small smile. "My name is Mary."

"Really?" Jack said and thought for a second. The look on his face showed that he liked Prince better, and it made the young girl laugh a little.

"Look, good news," Ace said. "When these boys came to me to see if I knew of anyone who could help your case I said I really didn't know any lawyers that could help you all out, but then I remembered something. I got a holda Jack and he got in touch with Denton. Denton then called up some of the other newspapermen in town… every paper in the city was represented in the court room this morning. Everyone is gonna know all about this come tomorrow. No matter what happens, you know you'll have the city of New York on your side."

At first, Prince had a hard time understanding, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Of course, if this story was put in the news paper, even if they lost the people of New York would demand that they start keeping better track of the money spent at the refuge. People hate it when they think they're money is being stolen, and that was essentially what the warden was doing. If people have to pay taxes, they had better damn well be going to what they think they're going towards, or people get angry. The more she thought about it the more brilliant it became. She realized that they had officially won the case, even if they had lost!

Avalanche suddenly appeared at the doors of the court house. "Hey," he called to Red. "The recess is about up, we had all better get back inside… heya boys," he said giving a knowing smile to Jack and Ace who simply nodded their heads back in hello and then everyone headed inside to hear what had been decided for their futures.

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When one's mind is racing time seems to slow down, and that was what she was experiencing at that moment. Time was moving at a snail's pace as she was waiting for every juror to file back into their seats. She could feel her heart beat in her mouth, and the feeling made her want to gag. She was so nervous, so scared, so worried. True, it was nice to know the papers were there, but all the same, if things were to go wrong her father must have figured out by now that it was her that leaked the information, she'd be doomed. She could feel herself falling now down into the cellar, never to be let out again. She'd be terrified, she'd die of starvation.

"We the jury find the defendant to be…"

Time froze for a brief moment as her ever active mind raced. They say in the moment before you die your life flashes before your eyes and suddenly that was how she felt. She could remember playing as a child with her mother, running around the house, enjoying herself, her father working all the time, slapping her across the face, her mother leaving, herself running away, her blissful years with the newsies where she may have been hungry but never unhappy. Finally a pain shot down her arm as she remembered being thrown down the stairs into the cellar and then she heard it-

"guilty."

She went numb. Surely it was a trick, surely it was a joke. Surely she had missed the word before that. But no, she hadn't. It was the truth.

"Mr. Snyder you are sentenced to five years in prison for stealing from the government, and the mistreatment of the residents of the refuge. Officers, take him away." You could see from the expression on Monahan's face he wasn't pleased about it, after all, one of his best friends and colleges, and meal tickets was being sent to prison. But with all the papers there and everything else, his power was finally limited. The law had caught up with the Warden, and he was finally feeling the justice he claimed to be doling out for so many years. And this time, it was truly just.

She sat there dumb struck as her father stood and the officers walked over, cuffed him, and carted him away. "This case is dismissed," the judge said as he stood. The bailiff said something about the next case starting at a time and… that was that, just like that, it was over. And just like that, it started.

"Prince," she heard her name for what felt like the first time and it finally felt as though she really was Prince again. No longer Mary, nor Miss Snyder, not Mary Anne, and by no stretch of the mind, was she Princess. No. Finally, she was herself again, and who called her by her other real name?

"Red…" she breathed as she smiled up at him and slowly stood up. "…we won," she said in no louder than a whisper.

"Yeah… we beat 'em," he said quietly back to her. And that seemed to be that.

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To celebrate, Millie, Adam, and Julia offered to come over that night and make Prince a large dinner with the food left in the Warden's house. The house technically belonged to Prince now anyway. Prince however thought for a second. They had far more food than she would be able to eat herself, so she told her Queens friends who had been in attendance at the trial to hurry home, quickly. Get everyone rounded up and bring them to her home in Manhattan for a dinner they'd never forget. Prince kept Jem and Rylet at the house while Wit, and Two-Step ran all the way back to Queens, smiles on their faces, happy to have their true leader back. She told Jack and Ace to run and get the Manhattan boys too, since they weren't that far away, and that all newsies in the immediate area were welcome to come and eat their fill.

Avalanche and Red took Prince home, along with the three who agreed to help with the cooking for the night. They walked into the house and just as Prince was going through the door she heard someone call her name. "Mary Ann!"

She turned around and saw Doyle and his friends running down the street. It was rather comical seeing the rag tag group of college students running at different paces towards her house, like some cartoon. It made her chuckle. Doyle lead the boys up to the gate of the Snyder household and Prince met them there.

"Please boys," she said allowing her voice to slip into it's now natural accent, "ya can just call me Prince."

The boys had a hard time with that, as could be seen on their faces. Perhaps she'd need a different different kind of real name. Something that everyone could agree on. She thought a moment. "How about Mae," she said quietly with a small smile. But of course, it was just her initials after all, M. A. Most people would have a hard time calling her something boyish like Prince. Mae, sounding at least feminine would get her through without dishonoring or disrespecting what she knew, or her family.

Doyle nodded. "Listen, Mae. Due to your father being in jail, there's a few things I wanna bring to your attention, if ya have a minute?"

"Sure," she said unlatching the gate and allowing the boys to come in. "Stick around too," she said, "Julia is going to be making some amazing food."

"We'd love to! Thanks! Sounds great!" the other boys chorused and Doyle chuckled and nodded in agreement.

Prince lead them inside and into the parlor where the piano sat. The boys all pulled up chairs and Doyle brought up his brief case. "Okay, so… Calvin here was the one in charge of what would happen after the case. And he figured out just about every situation, if we won, and lost, and what exactly would happen to us, to you, to your friends and all… Anyway, Cal knows what's set to happen next." So everyone, Prince included turned as the small boy pulled the file in the back of brief case out, and then took an even smaller file out of that.

"This is your file," he explained. "Pretty much, what it says is, this house is now yours. You can do what you want with it. Your father isn't dead but it definitely doesn't belong to him anymore. The government won't take it away from you because you're his relative and technically his heir, still living in it, and essentially able to handle living in it. However, you'll have to pay the government back the money that your dad stole according to what we found and proved. On the bright side, you'll still have income. Technically your father's job is now yours. We pulled a few strings and talked them into turning the position over to you. You can do with it what you want really. You can either start going to the nine to five that were his original set hours, you can hire someone else, you can do what you want. Or you can forfeit it, if you don't do anything in a week or two, the job will be returned to the government and won't be yours anymore."

"Wow… hold on…" she thought for a moment, "so you're sayin' pretty much everythin' that belonged to my father is now mine? Everythin'?"

"Yeah… pretty much. Because you're his daughter, and you're here to accept it all. There's a little paper work involved, but I have that all set just in case this were to happen. You sign the line and you basically take over his estate. And Mae, if I were you… I'd start with the bank accounts after you pay everything off. Even stolen money accumulates interest, and that's all yours."

"…I only have two questions for you boys." Prince said as she looked over the papers. "Where do I sign, and what do I owe you?" she grinned ear to ear. It made the boys laugh to see her so excited.

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The Snyder house hadn't been this lively in ages. Prince was in the parlor trying to play ragtime tunes on the piano. It proved to be more difficult than she had originally anticipated, but she was improving! She had long changed out of her frilly pretty dress and put a different one on, just a plain brown skirt and white blouse, something comfortable and fitting for the evening. The boys were in nearly every room exploring the house. This, of course, included the cellar where many had found the wine and alcoholic beverages and were enjoying them to the fullest. Some of the younger ones were playing in the kitchen with Millie and Julia backing chocolate chip cookies, and some of the older ones were outside with Adam looking at and petting the horses. It seemed everyone was having a wonderful time.

As the night drug on Prince gave up on the piano and said she was going to step outside. So the boys dispersed and went to explore other parts of the house. It was getting later into the night. Already Jem and Two-step had fallen asleep on the couch with cookies in their hands. Many of the Manhattan boys had gone home, while many of the Queens boys had pulled up a cushion and fallen asleep on the soft rugs.

Adam had come inside to grab a bite to eat himself. He gave a nod to Prince as she stepped outside and she smiled back to him. "Just going to see the horses," she said to him. It made him smile a little, and then she was out the door.

It was much quieter outside, she sort of liked it. It was calm and peaceful. She wasn't used to being in her house and happy at the same time, it was different for her. But she liked it. She began to think as she walked around the stables. She would stop from time to time in front of a horse that was awake and pet its nose, which would always make her smile a little more. Perhaps Julia could teach her how to cook well enough from lessons, and Adam would help her sell the horses to good homes. Maybe then she could find enough money to hire Millie on a regular basis. She'd like to get the house converted into a new lodging house for the boys. True, it wouldn't be the same as Queens, but perhaps her house could be different. Maybe she could start a house for runaways who needed a little extra help finding their feet away from home, and a safe place to hide.

As her mind was exploring these ideas she suddenly heard a voice behind her. "Hello Princess…"

Prince whipped around to see who was speaking to her and found herself a mere few feet away from Max Johnson. Avalanche's little brother had a revolver in his hand, pointed directly between her eyes.

"Max… what are-"

"Hush now huh?" he said taking a step closer. "Don't want no one comin' out here to rescue ya. That wouldn't be fair to me would it?"

Prince didn't say a word. She'd been scared of her father, of getting thrown down the stairs to her doom of starvation, but this was a new kind of fear. Starving took time with a chance to be rescued, a gun was a death sentence, instant death, no chance to change your mind or be saved.

"So, I hear your father is gone. 'Bout time, the man was a public menace. This house all yours now huh? Well what happens when you ain't here ta have it? And what about poor poor Red? I think he might have had a crush on you, you little Princess. Let's see how he likes it when I take away from him his newest family member, his new favorite little pet newsie. He'll be sad, I'm sure. And Avalanche? What will he do without his little daughter, or sister, or whatever the hell you were to him…

"Max, why are-"

"Lemme finish!" Prince instantly shut her mouth once more. "See, it's just not fair is it? You lived here and had everything you could ever want handed to you on a silver platter. Quite literally I'm sure. And then your daddy started to work too much, and your mommy left you huh? So when things got a little hard what did you do? You ran away. You ran away from the easiest life and you come to Queens where I could tell right away that you didn't belong…" Of course, Prince remembered the first time she'd seen Max.

_"You think you're in a real rough spot I bet," he said to her stopping and glaring at her full on. "Look around. Dere are people everywhere who would kill for a bite of dat food. Starve for a week. See if youse wouldn't do da same," he said before he turned away from her again. She was too shocked to follow after him._

"Then you get lucky enough to meet my brother, my family. You proceed to take him away from me. You take away my only family, the only family I have left. He cares more for you than for me, and would do anything to protect the little princess." Max takes another step forward putting him directly in front of Prince, gun still poised at her forehead. "So now here I am, to get my only family back, after he deserted me for someone he didn't even know, for someone who had everything and wanted more. I'm going to take away everything you have, even your life. I'm going to take my brother back."

"Maximilian Johnson!" Avalanche's voice cut through the hot summer air like a cold knife, and Max's and Prince's heads both snapped to the side to see the elder coming down the back steps, followed closely by Red, not even two steps behind him.

"Brother…" he growled.

"You had the money all along didn't you? You lied to me. You wanted me gone so that you could hurt her."

"Congratulations… Avie," there was a sort of stab in the way the boy spoke to his older brother and said his name. He took a few steps back from Prince with a sadistic smile on his face. "You figured it out. Guess I'm just not as good at improving the truth as you are. And now here is your prize…" Max said as he continued to point the gun at Prince's face. "One dead… whatever the hell this girl is to you. I hope you're satisfied, lose a friend, gain a family member, right brother?" Max looked over at Avalanche, the same scary smile on his face.

Suddenly Avalanche launched himself forward, and oddly enough Red did the same. At that moment that their feet left the ground, time slowed down, and yet everything happened at once. Prince felt herself fly sideways, she heard a gunshot, saw Red collide with the younger Johnson brother, and felt herself fall to the ground, and then her eyes closed.

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A/N: Guess that's the last up date for now. I'll do my best to try and be back here on Thursday. If anyone around is reading this, drop me a reminder and/or a review! And I'll be sure to tell you what happens next. Only a few chapters left, and you won't want to miss the end of this one! R&R please, and we'll see you soon!


	22. 22 Rule Number One

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

Chapter 22: Rule Number One

Summary: At the turn of the century, New York City is a busy town. Sometimes the important things get lost in the madness. As life goes on in the sweatshops and the child labor many people start to forget about friends, love, and family, but sometimes reminders are all too painful.

Disclaimer: Most of these guys are all mine! However there are a few, that are not, and they are the property of Disney. Also, some are properties of close friends of mine. These friends have accounts on this site under the names of AmbrLupin, and Oberon O'Neil. Beyond that, they are mine. If you need or would like to know which character belongs to whom, don't be afraid to ask. In this chapter there is a quote from the book of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Also in this chapter appear two new characters, Styx and Nike. They belong to a friend of mine of well, and all credit goes to her. Thanks to her for letting me use them!

A/N: The third (and final) installment of the NYR trilogy. So, I hope you enjoy it, don't be afraid to review, and ask as many questions as necessary. Thank you all, and enjoy!

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A moment later Prince opened her eyes, but was deaf to the world around her, but other wise oddly unharmed. The gunshot messed with her hearing and now all she could hear was this constant ringing. She glanced over at Red who was pinning Max to the ground as they struggled, and then she turned to look at Avalanche who was also on the ground, eyes closed, and wasn't moving. She opened her mouth and said his name the way she was used to saying it though she couldn't hear herself over the ringing in her ears. She instantly moved across the ground to reach his side, when Wit and Rylet appeared above him as well. Prince was so disoriented that she hadn't seen them coming, or even knew where they came from. Wit bent down next to Avalanche while Rylet attended to Prince.

"Prince," she could see his lips moving and saying her name. She could barely hear him, it was as though his voice was a memory and not really speaking at that moment. "Prince… Prince, can you hear me, are you alright?" She looked confused at him and shook her head. He took a deep breath. "Prince! It's going to be okay! You aren't hurt!" All at once as though she brought her head out of a pool of water her hearing returned to normal. "You didn't get hurt you're fine. Avalanche took the bullet."

"…What?" As soon as she processed the information she crawled past Rylet and back to Avalanche's side. The former leader was still conscious. "Avalanche! Avalanche! Are you alright?"

"Hey there Prince," he said weakly with a smile as he opened his eyes to look up at her. "Hey, I'm gonna be alright okay? Because you're alright… but you might wanna call someone with… medical training or something, okay?" He still had the week smile on his face. "I'm gonna be fine," all the same he closed his eyes and passed out.

"Wit," Prince said instantly the leader again. "Get Adam."

"Who?"

"The adult guy inside!" Wit nodded quickly and ran inside to tell Julia and Adam what had happened.

Rylet and Prince stayed behind to try and wake Avalanche.

Meanwhile, out of the corner of his eye, Rylet noticed that Red and Max had stopped struggling.

"Red?" Rylet said in a slightly hushed voice. "Red?"

"I'm fine," the Red head said quietly. "We'll need another ambulance," he said. Rylet instantly stood up and ran towards the door.

"Red?" Prince sat on the ground torn between the two most important men in her life at the moment.

"I'm fine," he said again very calmly as he was sitting beside Max on the ground, but was on his hands and knees examining the younger boy. He didn't look at Prince.

A moment later Adam came outside and knelt down by Avalanche. "Julia is calling the hospital, they'll have what we need here in just a few minutes…

Prince crawled over to Red's side who, was as he said, fine. However, he didn't seem to be in high spirits. "Red," Prince whispered. "What happened?"

"He pulled a knife on me," Red said. "I fought him back to keep him from hitting me with it," Red had the scratch across the cheek to prove it, "but it slipped out of his hand and landed…" Red sat on his knees next to Prince. And then he remembered. "…Alex," he stood and circled back around to investigate the condition of his dear friend.

Prince felt lost and mostly to blame as she sat there on the stable floor surrounded by blood and pain. Her mind was reeling and though she felt light headed she was determined to maintain consciousness. After all, she had to be the strong leader that Avalanche had brought her up to be.

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The next few hours went by in a blur. Millie sent all the boys who were awake either to sleep, or home, depending. Jem, luckily, like many of the boys stayed asleep through the entire ordeal. Julia and Millie promised to take care of the boys the next day. Prince gave them instructions to not let the little ones go home. Two-Step was in charge if anyone fought the older girls or wanted any information. Prince went with the boys to the hospital.

Avalanche was taken into surgery to get stitches, though the doctor was very optimistic of his recovery. He said the bullet missed vital organs by miles and just hit him in the left shoulder. He probably passed out because it grazed a bone and probably hurt like the dickens. Although Avalanche's shoulder was about even with Prince's head when they were both standing. Prince didn't even want to think about it.

Red was fine, as he head said, just a scratch across the cheek that a nurse put some kind of bubbly chemical on, and then he sat in the waiting room with Prince. Max was taken in for inspection but it only took a few minutes before a doctor came out and told them that he'd passed on, a while ago probably. Red wasn't surprised, the knife had cut deep, was much larger than the bullet wound, and was more towards the center of the body.

It was now nearly two o'clock in the morning as the two sat in the waiting room. Red had an arm around Prince's shoulders and she lay against his chest. It didn't matter what people looked like in a hospital waiting room. Most people were anxious, and tired no one cared what was descent or normal there. The two of them were so tired they could have fallen asleep if they weren't so worried for their friend.

"You know," Red said after a long silence, "Avalanche is too much of a fighter to just give up on life. I'm sure he's gonna be fine. And the doc said that he'd be okay, you dun gotta worry so much."

"Red," Prince said just above a whisper. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't run away from the nice life I had then Avalanche would be fine, and so would you, and Max would be alive and the brothers would have been closer than ever and I never would have gotten in the way-"

"Hey," he said as he took the arm from her shoulders, took her chin in his hand, and leaned down, forcing her eyes to meet his. "I dun wanna hear you talk like that, got it? You are the best thin' that ever happened to Queens… and me. I dun wanna hear you say 'what if', because the past has happened. You didn't have a family at home any more. You have a family with the newsies, you have a family with Avalanche and you especially have one with me," he said. He took his hand and stroked her cheek gently. His green eyes sparkled in the dim light of the hospital lobby. "You're the best family I got Mavourneen."

The use of that nick name made the young Prince smile. And she had to admit, she knew he was right. It was just so difficult to take it all in. But she'd manage. She'd recover just as sure as Avalanche would… wouldn't he?

Prince nervously glanced towards the room the doctors came out of just before one stepped through the door. "I wanted to report to you that your other friend that you brought in, Alex. He's doing alright. He's actually awake now and he wants to know if anyone is around to see him."

"Yes," Prince and Red said in unison as they stood up. Prince then continued, "we'd like to see him now."

The doctor chuckled. "I thought you would." He turned and lead Prince and Red into the room where Avalanche was laying in a bed, propped up on several pillows.

"Hey there Snowball," Red said as he walked into the room which made Avalanche smile ever so slightly, but it was sincere none the less, the life like twinkle still in his eyes.

"How you two doin'?" he asked.

Prince shrugged. "Fine I guess."

"And Max?" he asked next. Their faces fell as the smiles quickly vanished, and then Avalanche's did too. "I see. I… uh… I'm sorry I got you two involved in all this."

Prince shook her head and leaned down to give her friend a hug. "It's okay… it's not your fault."

"…ow." He said quietly.

"Sorry!" she said and released him quickly.

Red and Avalanche chuckled. "It's fine, just these stitches are a little tender," he said looking down at his left shoulder. "But I'll be okay… I'll be let out in the morning. Look, why don't you two go on home and get some sleep? I'll see ya later."

"You sure?" she asked and Red put an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm sure," Avalanche said with another small smile. "I mean I'm tired, and I'll come see ya soon, okay Prince?" he said with a wink.

She nodded. "Okay," and with that Red turned the two of them around and they headed for the door.

"Sleep well Snowball," Red said saying goodbye to his friend. Avalanche chuckled and raised his right hand in a wave before laying back down and closing his eyes again.

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Red and Prince fell asleep in the Warden's bed that night. They hadn't meant to, but it had just sort of happened. Prince had meant to go to her own bed, but she laid down beside Red and they couldn't help but drift off to sleep.

Around noon Millie snuck in quietly and shook the young girl gently. "Miss… Miss Prince," she said having difficulty, but she was working on it. "It's about noon, I thought you might like to be awake now."

Prince sighed and rolled over to look up at Millie. "G'morning Millie."

"Mornin' Miss," she said with a small nod. "I've got ye some clothes laid out if you'd like, and I'm sure Mr. Red could look at your father's clothes if he's looking for somethin' clean and fresh ta be wearin' himself.

Red, overhearing this conversation said, "uh… thanks Millie. I'll probably just keep these clothes on." It was odd to him to be wearing the warden's clothes.

"Thank you Millie," Prince said with a brighter smile.

_"Tá fáilte romhat." _(You're Welcome.) And with that Millie headed for the door, closing it behind her.

"I suppose she's right," Prince said as she started to roll over to get out of bed. Red however grabbed her by the arm and rolled her back over to face her again. Prince giggled a little and looked at him. "Can I help you Mr. Red?" she said mocking her dear friend.

"Not at all Miss Prince, I would just like something," he said as he gave her a quick kiss. It made her smile as she breathed deeply and then nodded slightly. She turned and rolled out of bed this time. After all, she had a lot to do today.

First on her list was getting the position of Warden figured out, but she already had a plan for that. After stopping by the refuge she planned on going back to Queens for at least a few days. She missed her boys and her home.

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That afternoon Prince was back in her lodging house again. She was more comfortable with her hair tucked mostly under her hat, and pants back on her legs. She was sitting in the living area of the lodging house reading 'Oliver Twist' to the boys. "'Not Aunt," cried Oliver, throwing his arms about her neck: 'I'll never call her aunt -sister, my own dear, sister, that something taught my heart to love so dearly from the first! Rose, dear, darling Rose!'"

Quite suddenly there was a knock on the door. Prince handed the book to Rylet and allowed him to continue reading as Prince headed to the door and opened it to find two twins, a boy and a girl, standing on the front step arguing about who knows what.

"That's not true you don't need to."

"Yes you do! I just did it!"

"But you didn't need to!"

"Hello?" Prince said cutting the two of them off with her hands on her hips staring down at them. "Can I help you?"

"Oh… hi!" the boy said. "Yeah uh… we heard that… is Prince here?"

"Who's askin?" she said as she folded her arms and leaned against the door way. She kept her voice low and boyish, one of her favorite games.

"Wull my name is Styx," the boy said, "And this is Nike, my twin sister. We were told that we could maybe get a bed here… we were told to ask for Prince."

She looked them over for a few minutes. "I know a guy named Prince. C'mon on in… tell me where ya from," she said as she backed up and allowed the twins to enter. They appeared a little older than most of the kids who came by. Both blonde and not bad looking people. They both seemed strong and smart, and the boy carried himself in a certain way that made him appear informed and knowing. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she had a good feeling about these kids. And boy would she have fun with them when she took her hat off and raised her voice to show them that she was a girl.

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After Avalanche was released from the hospital he didn't go directly to Prince's house, or even to Queens lodging house. Instead he headed for the Bronx. He headed to a house, to where he knew his mother and sister were still living. He had avoided them for so long, he figured it was high time he went back to see them and explain to them what happened. Belinda, the middle sibling of the three, was in tears when her brother appeared at the door and she hugged him for several minutes before allowing him to go inside and see their mother. Avalanche's mom had recovered quite a bit since he had seen her last. She wasn't sick anymore, but was still quite thin. Avalanche promised he'd be around a lot more to take care of the both of them from then on. Though they did thank him for the money that he had sent, it had helped quite a bit.

A few days later he headed to the Queens lodging house where he found Red outside smoking a cigarette. "Well the good news is," Red explained to Avalanche, "we still have our apartment in Brooklyn. Prince took the liberty to pay off the rent through the month where we were hardly home," he explained with a grin

"The bad news?" Alex responded with a chuckle.

"I'm not sure Prince is be ready to move out yet… she's got a new project."

"C'mere kiddos," Prince said as she took a flying leap down the front steps of the lodging house. As she made her exit a set of twins followed her out, Styx and Nike, of course. Avalanche and Red stood by the front and watched them. "T'day we're gonna show ya how ta sell papes," she said with a proud smile.

"What cha mean? Don't cha just shout headlines and people buy 'em?"

She chuckled. "We gotta long way ta go…" and with that she led the twins down the street not yet answering any of their questions as to what she meant exactly.

Avalanche and Red laughed as they walked out of sight. "Ya see," Red said turning back to his friend as he offered him a cigarette. She mentioned to me the other day these kids has potential, especially the boy… you know what that means."

"Guess she's gonna be a newsie for at least one more year huh?"

"She'll hafta if she's gonna get that Styx boy ready to be a leader any time soon." Red said with a grin. "However… more good news. Prince said she'll pay us to work on her old house to turn it into a lodging house for runaways. She wants to make it a safe house, a sort of in between for kids who are runnin' away from people who hurt them, or families that can't afford 'em. From her house she'll send them to newsie boroughs, or other places to be safe. A safe place for orphans who haven't done anything wrong, like the refuge. She said she'd pay us to do the renovating. And we can live there 'til we're done. After all, she only paid the back rent on the apartment. Free livin' is better anyhow."

The rest of the Queens newsies jumped down the stairs of the lodging house not long after. Hurrying after their leader. Ryelt first with Jem and Two-Step as the young boys hurried and raced towards distribution. Jem was getting faster every day. Last out of the house was Wit, making sure everyone was up, awake, and alert. As he walked by Red and Avalanche he nodded touching the brim of his hat. "Mornin' fellas. Nice day ain't it?"

The boys chuckled and nodded as they took a drag on their cigarettes. And with that Wit hurried off. "Say," Avalanche said turning to Red, "What's Prince doin' with the Warden job then. Since she ain't gonna be takin' it I assume?"

"Naw, she dun want it… she offered it to Ace. Man's got connections, smarts, and the know how to do the job justice."

Avalanche laughed out loud. A full laugh, a loud laugh that seemed to shake the buildings around them. Prince could hear it from distribution. Though Avalanche knew just as well as everyone else that Ace would be the right man for the job, and do it plenty of justice on the correct salary.

"Woah," Nike said hearing the laughter. "What was that?"

"Oh that?" Prince said with a smirk. "Just an Avalanche…" she turned and bought her papers before handing a few to the twins and heading down the ramp.

"Alright kiddos," she said as she hurried through the gate. "Rule number one of bein' a newsie…" her mind flashed back to what Avalanche had told her…

"_What us newsies call 'Improvin' da Truth.'"_

"Never forget about your family," she said looking at one and then the other. "If you've got family you've got more than most people. And never forget that by bein' a newsie, your family just got bigger. Family is the most important thin' that all of us got. Understand?"

The twins looked to each other and then back to Prince with a smile and a nod. "Alright good. Rule number two is called Improvin' the truth…"

With that Prince lead her Queens newsies down the street towards the center of the city. From there they would walk all over screaming headlines for several years to come. It was summer at the turn of the century, the weather was hot, and life couldn't be sweeter.

What a wonder it was to be free in New York City.

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A/N: I'd like to thank everyone for a lovely story and all the assistance that I got putting the story together. A very big thank you to Sarah and Dani as well as JJ for loaning me their characters. All of them made the story what it is, and were so very important. Also, a big thanks to Jason for motivating me to write. And lastly, thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to read this story. Drop me a review and let me know what you thought when it was all said and done. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

For those of you who are interested, there is an optional epilogue that will be posted next week before I move back to school! It's strickly optional, you don't have to read it, you don't have to like it. It's just something that struck me, and I thought it might be a nice way to wrap things up just a little more.

Once again, thank you, a thousand times thank you! It's been a great ride. Stay tuned, and maybe I'll see ya again soon! Best of luck to you, bye!


	23. Epilogue

New York Radical

By: PrinceOfNewYork

(23) Epilogue

A/N: This was mostly written to close up those last few loose ends. This is an optional ending to the story. You may take it or leave it as such. Either way, enjoy. And thank you for reading the trilogy! You have no idea how much I really appreciate you, the reader. So thank you.

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"And that is the end of the story of Prince," Mrs. Queen said as she closed the leather bound book and placed it on her lap. Mrs. Queen was a woman around the age of 30, with soft features and brown hair. It was a custom of hers to come to read this these children as often as she was allowed.

"It's over?" one of the children said as they sat up high on their knees. The other children groaned in unhappiness to hear that the story had ended.

"Yes, it's over."

"But what happened later? Does Prince and Red ever get married?" a little blonde girl asked.

The woman laughed a little and smiled, "Of course. A few years later they get married, and start a family of their own."

"Is Ace good as the Warden?"

"Very good, the man was practically made for the job."

"What does Spot Conlon grow up to do?"

"He grows up like Red I suppose…" she said thoughtfully, not really having thought about this one, "and continues to look out for those younger than him."

"What about Avalanche?"

She smiled. "He lives with his mother and sister for a while, and eventually meets a girl of his very own and the two of them fall in love and get married as well. Another girl who also lost family to unfortunate situations, such as Alexander had."

"And the twins? At the very end? What do they do?"

"Styx, the boy, becomes the leader of Queens after Prince steps down, and he is very good at it, looking over all of the kids, as Prince did, as if they were his own family. And Nike is second in command. The two make a great team, and Nike becomes a sort of mother for the younger boys, such as Prince was."

"Mrs. Queen. Is that story about you?"

"Well…" Mrs. Queen gave a small sort of smile which led the children to believe that it was, which got them a whole new set of exciting questions to ask.

"Were you a newsie in New York City!"

"Was Red really so cute and tall! And his hair as red as fire and eyes as green as emeralds?"

"Did Avalanche really yell that loud? Did anyone ever go deaf because of it? Really?"

"How many newspapers did you ever sell, ever!"

"Quiet down," Mrs. Queen calmed the orphan children who listened to her story. "It's not polite to ask so many questions," she said giving them a beautiful smile.

The blonde girl in the front had yet another question, but she raised her hand so that the adult might see her and allow her to ask the question."Mrs. Queen?"

"Yes?'

"Is your real name Mary Ann?"

"No," she said shaking her head, honestly answering the question. "But my last name really is Queen."

"What about Mr. Spot Conlon, the King of Brooklyn?" a little boy said, "Is his last name Brooklyn?"

She chuckled. "No, no it's not."

"Mrs. Queen, is that story true?" another small boy asked.

She hesitated for a moment. "Parts of it are very true," she said somberly, "yes."

A nun came into the door of the play room. "Children," she said, "it's getting late, time for you to go off to bed. Say thank you to Mrs. Queen."

The children of the Boston orphanage stood to their feet and chorused. "Thank you Mrs. Queen."

"You're welcome children," she said back to them in a gentle tone, like a mother speaking to her own children.

"Goodnight!" they all said in a chorus once again.

She smiled at them all. "Good night." A small boy ran from the mass of children over to her and hugged her skirts. Mrs. Queen bent down and gave him a hug. "Good night Daniel," she whispered to him and he ran off towards the bunk room where the older nun was waiting for him and followed him out.

Mrs. Queen loved all those children quite dearly, and would miss telling this story to them. Perhaps she'd write another story, entirely about Avalanche this time and come back and read it to them.

Another nun came in, this one being but a novice, and came up to Mrs. Queen. "Ma'am, that was an absolutely lovely story, and thank you so much for coming to read it to the children."

"You're quite welcome, it's easy to read when you have such a captive audience," Mrs. Queen said putting a shawl about her shoulders, preparing to go for the evening.

"But I can't help but wonder…" the novice said, feeling a little silly asking a question that one of the children had asked as well, however, she simply had to know, "Is it true?"

Mrs. Queen could only shrug. "I can't say for sure, but I can say that parts of it did happen."

"I do hope you'll come back and read it for the children again. They loved it so the first time."

"Of course," Mrs. Queen nodded. "Perhaps next time I shall bring the story of a different child. The story of Avalanche, or maybe something different all together."

"That would be wonderful!" the novice nun said. "When do you think you'll come back?"

"Hard to say, but I will be in touch," she promised. After all, she'd have to write another story, plus, there was something else she'd been meaning to do first. Something that had been weighing heavily on her mind lately.

"Madam," one of the nuns appeared at the door, "your husband is here."

"Thank you sister," Mrs. Queen said to the nun at the door with a grateful nod. "And goodnight," she said to the novice nun.

"Good night!" the young novice called back," And, bless the newsies," she added gently with a small smile.

Mrs. Queen stopped with a hand on the door knob, then turned back, smiled as well, and said, "Yes… bless the newsies."

The nuns saw Mrs. Queen out of the house and to her carriage where her husband was waiting for her inside.

"Well, Amanda, did they like the story?" Mr. Queen asked as he leaned over and gave his wife a soft kiss on the cheek. He was a bit older man, around the age of 40, rather slim, but a top hat graced his head, he wore a suit, and had a book of his own in his hands, closed as he spoke to his wife.

"It absolutely delighted them," she said with a small smile and then looked out the window, down the road.

"Amanda?" he asked, "is everything alright?"

"I'm sorry James," she said quietly. "I'm just thinking, and… I believe that… I need to return to New York," she said, the sentence was more difficult than she had anticipated.

Fred knew of his wives past. "Well then, I'd like to come with you."

"I'd like that," she said holding back her true excitement. "And I don't plan on staying there too long, I just need to go and visit, and see someone."

He smiled the understanding smile of a man who truly knew a woman. "You're really worried about her."

"I have been for quite some time now…" Amanda confessed with a sigh. "It wasn't right of me to just up and leave like I did. I can brave Nigel to find out if she is alright."

Fred nodded. "Tomorrow morning then, we'll be on the first train to New York. I'll inform my associates at the railroad office tomorrow that I'll be out of town for an undetermined amount of time. And we'll go see if we can locate your daughter."

Amanda smiled brightly at him, and unable to contain her excitement any longer, she threw her arms around him. "Thank you James," she said softly into his ear and kissed his cheek.

"Of course, my dear," he said as he took her hand in his and kissed the back of it, before releasing her and pulling his book up to double check a few things.

Amanda, in the mean time, looked up at the sky. Oh what a wonder it was to live in Boston in the autumn of 1899 when the leaves were just turning beautiful golden colors. The winding roads of this city that she had slowly learned how to navigate stretched out before them as they made their way towards their home. Amanda couldn't help but think of the adventure she was about to embark on. In many ways she hoped her story to be true, but in many more she hoped that she couldn't be more wrong. After all, New York had been Amanda's home, and it was time to return to it, if just for a short time. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to navigate the streets as she once could. She wasn't sure she'd be able to find her darling Mary Ann, but she had to hope, and she had to try.

Amanda closed her eyes and said a silent prayer.

Dear Lord, please watch over my beautiful daughter, keep Mary Ann safe and free from harm, whatever that may mean. Whoever is guarding her now, Lord, please let them be strong of mind, and heart, and not quick to raise a hand to her. Help me to find my darling daughter tomorrow as I start my search for her. Let her be strong and smart as I know she must be, and where ever she may lay her head at night, bless her and give her a restful sleep. And please Lord,

Bless the Newsies.

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